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MEMORIAM 
John  Sv/ett 


J 


OWNe    l   i»CON,    MINTEItV 


SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT; 

A  PRACTICAL  TREATISE, 


PRESENTING  A  THOROUGH  DISCUSSION  OF  ITS  FACTS, 
PRINCIPLES,  AND  THEIR  APPLICATIONS; 

"WITH 


OEITIQUES 


UPON   CURRENT  THEORIES   OP   PUNISHMENT,  AND 
SCHEMES    OF    ADMINISTRATION. 


FOR  THE 

USE  OF  NORMAL  SCHOOLS,  PRACTICAL  TEACHERS,  AND  PARENTS. 
By  FREDERICK  S.  JEWELL,  A.M. 


The  government  of  the  child  should  be  kingly.— Abiatotlz. 


NEW  YORK: 
PUBLISHED    BY    A.    S.    BARNES    &    CO., 

Ill  &  113  WILLIAM  ST.,  COR.  JOHN. 
186~6. 


.Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1866,  by 

FREDERICK  S.  JEWELL, 

In  the  Clerk'a  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 

District  of  New  York. 


EDUCATE 


Stereotyped  by  Smith  &  McDocqal,  83  &  84  Beekman  St.,  N.  T. 
Printed  by  Gkorqk  W.  Wood,  2  Dutch  Street 


PREFACE. 


The  work  here  presented  to  the  public  was  under- 
taken under  the  deep  conviction  that  a  thorough  and 
practical  examination  of  the  field  of  thought  involved, 
was  pressingly  demanded  by  the  wants  of  teachers  and 
the  interests  of  our  public  schools. 

It  has,  therefore,  been  expressly  prepared  with  a  view 
to  meet  that  particular  demand,  and,  hence,  has  taken 
upon  itself  some  features  which  otherwise  the  writer 
would  have  chosen  to  avoid,  as  unfavorable  to  logical 
exactness  in  order  and  execution. 

Thus,  knowing  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  mastering 
an  extended  discussion,  likely  to  be  encountered  by  the 
great  body  of  public  school  teachers,  and  growing  in- 
evitably out  of  the  close  employment  of  their  time,  the 
wide  diversion  of  their  attention,  the  exhausting  nature 
of  their  duties,  and  their  lack  of  philosophical  familiarity 
with  the  topics  suggested,  the  following  general  method 
has  been  adopted  as  both  just  and  necessary. 

The  introductory  topics  have  been  considered  more  in 
detail  than  might  otherwise  have  been  proper ;  a  com- 
paratively discursive  method  in  discussion  has  been, 
though  somewhat  reluctantly,  adopted ;  objections  have 
been  particularly  considered,  and,  as  naturally  suggested, 
instead  of  being  left  to  the  necessary  inferences  of  indi- 
vidual reflection ;  at  the  risk  of  some  criticism,  princi- 

543427 


r*  V     ..'.'..•  PREFACE. 

•  pies  have-  been  repeated  in  different  connections,  that 
their  relations  may  always  be  immediately  apparent,  and 
that  their  nature  may  be  more  clearly  apprehended  in 
the  light  of  the  relations  thus  evinced  ;  and  studied  ex- 
cellence in  style  has  been  steadily  made  to  give  place  to 
a  diction  chiefly  intent  on  simplicity,  earnestness,  and 
force. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  practical  advantages  sought  to  be 
secured  for  the  less  favored  class  of  readers,  by  the  pur- 
suit of  this  method,  will  so  far  approve  it  to  the  good 
sense  of  those  endowed  with  higher  learning  and  leisure, 
as  rather  to  add  to  their  interest  in  the  work,  instead  of 
detracting  from  it.  Let  us  sow,  that  the  many  may  reap 
rather  than  the  few. 

Prosecuted  under  the  pressure  of  peculiar  perplexities, 
and  discussing  a  subject  of  peculiar  difficulties,  it  is  not 
for  one  moment  fancied  that  the  work  is  without  its  de- 
fects. Doubtless,  here  and  there,  the  individual  teacher 
will  look  for  a  minute  elucidation  of  some  specific  diffi- 
culty,— some  question  of  casuistry,  case  of  discipline,  or 
particular  method, — with  reference  to  which  his  own 
mind  has  been  exercised,  but  which  has  not  here  been 
fully  discussed.  It  would  not  be  strange  if  the  cottager 
should  look  in  vain  in  the  artist's  best  transfiguration  in 
color  of  the  overshadowing  Alp,  for  the  distinct  delinea- 
tion of  the  particular  cleft  or  crag  which,  as  hovering 
around,  or  hanging  over  his  own  dwelling  place,  seems 
to  him  the  object  of  especial  mark. 

It  will,  however,  occur  to  such  teachers,  upon  proper 
reflection,  that  it  must  be  impossible  within  the  brief 
practical  compass  to  which  this  work  has,  for  obvious 
reasons,  been  restricted,  to  discuss  in  detail  an  entire 


PEEFACE.  V 

field  so  mazy  and  manifold  in  its  particulars,  as  must  be 
that  of  school  government.  The  only  consistent  effort 
must  be  that  of  establishing  broad  principles,  and  indi- 
cating clear  lines  of  inference  and  application,  leaving 
still  something  to  be  done  by  the  teacher  in  his  own 
thought  and  experiment. 

It  is  proper  to  remark  here,  that  while  the  work  has 
been,  as  treating  of  School  Government,  more  especially 
prepared  for  the  teacher,  it  is  one  which  cannot  but  be 
highly  suggestive  and  helpful  to  the  parent.  The  atten- 
tion of  the  latter  class  is  earnestly  called,  therefore,  to 
its  claims  upon  their  interest  and  examination. 

Such  as  the  work  is,  it  is  now  offered  to  the  public,  in 
the  belief  that  it  is  calculated  to  render  important  service 
to  those  for  whose  benefit,  and  in  sympathy  with  whose 
labors,  perplexities,  and  trials,  it  has  been  written. 

State  Nobmal  School,  Albany,  Febbuaby  22, 1866. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER    I. 

PAGE 

Introduction 9 


CHAPTER    II. 

Obstacles  in  the  way  of  Good  School  Government  Speci- 
fically Considered 24 


CHAPTER    III. 

Derivation  of  School  Government  from  Parental  Authority.    34 


CHAPTER    IV. 

The  Characteristics   of  School   Government   as    Derived 
from  that  of  the  parent 43 


CHAPTER    V. 

School  Government  as  Related  to  the  School,  and  its  Con- 
sequent Characteristics 68 


CHAPTER    VI. 

General  Elements  of  School  Government  in  Itself  Consid- 
ered   101 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

PAGE 

General  Elements  Continued. — Discipline. — Requirement...  129 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

General  Elements  Continued.— Discipline. — Judgment 141 


CHAPTER    IX. 

General  Elements  Continued. —  Discipline. — Correction  or 
Enforcement,  Preventive 168 


CHAPTER    X. 

General  Elements  Continued. — Discipline. — Penal  Correc- 
tion.— Theories  op  Punishment 189 


CHAPTER    XI. 

General  Elements   Continued. — Discipline. — Penal  Correc- 
tion, or  Punishment 218 


CHAPTER    XII. 

Application  of  Principles  to  Specific  Schemes  of  Discipline 
and  to  Departmental  Schools 253 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

School  Government. — General  Resume  of  its  Species;  their 
Characteristics,  and  the  Qualifications  Requisite  to  their 
Administration 282 


SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

General  definition  of  School  Government — Importance  generally  granted 
— Results  of  its  absence — Real  necessity  of  government — General 
maxim — Improvement  to  have  been  expected — Expectation  not  real- 
ized— Proofs  of  depression  and  neglect  of  government — Rude  forms  of 
punishment— Teaching  exclusively  taught— Learning  made  the  test  of 
qualification  in  teachers— Should  be  examined  in  government— Em- 
ployment of  young  teachers — High  culture  and  experience  needed  for 
governing — Teachers  absorbed  in  the  work  of  Instruction — Causes  of 
this  neglect  and  depression  of  School  Government — Incidental  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  governing— False  theory  of  education — Theory  diverts 
attention  from  government— The  moral  element  suppressed— Evidences 
of  the  fallacy  of  the  theory — Experience  shows  it — Shown  from  the 
laws  of  the  intellect — Injurious  results  of  overlooking  these  laws- 
Shown  from  the  order  of  the  human  faculties — Causes  of  this  neglect 
of  the  moral  nature — Learning  more  easily  appreciated  than  moral  cul- 
ture— Prejudices  against  moral  instruction  in  schools — Disparting  of 
the  intellectual  and  moral  nature  in  science— Ignoring  of  the  religious 
element  in  the  soul — Absurdity  of  this  neglect  of  the  moral  nature — 
School  Government  more  closely  defined — Definition  condensed. 

School  Government,  as  that  branch  of  practical 
art  to  which  the  attention  is  to  be  given  throughout 
this  work,  may  be  denned  in  general  terms,  as  that 
just  ordering  of  the  affairs  of  the  school,  which  is 
necessary  to  the  successful  attainment  of  its  proper 
ends.     Of  its  general  importance  in  some  reasonable 


10  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

and  effective  form,  we  apprehend  few  persons  of  in- 
telligence or  experience  entertain  any  doubt.  Even 
those,  who  are  most  disposed  to  take  exceptions  to  its 
specific  applications  as  pressing  upon  their  children 
or  wards,  are  quite  ready  to  cry  out  against  its 
marked  absence  from  the  school.  Indeed,  it  needs 
no  great  sharpness  of  observation  to  reveal  to  any 
one,  disposed  to  know  the  truth,  the  fact  that  the  lack 
of  it  can  only  be  productive  of  serious  evils,  such  as 
the  failure  of  the  pupils  to  make  satisfactory  pro- 
gress, the  destruction  of  the  teacher's  influence,  and 
the  prevalence  of  disorder  and  ill  feeling  throughout 
the  school.  Accepting,  then,  even  the  current  notion 
as  to  the  nature  of  education  and  the  functions  of 
the  school,  ill  calculated  as  that  notion  is  to  favor  or 
secure  right  views  of  the  importance  of  school  gov- 
ernment, it  will  be  seen  that  that  government  is  more 
than  merely  important  to  the  succcessful  completion 
of  the  daily  round  of  instruction,  and  to  the  main- 
tenance of  general  harmony  throughout  the  little 
commonwealth ;  it  is  a  thorough  necessity.  Indeed, 
in  the  school,  as  elsewhere,  the  general  maxim  is, 
"  Order  is  heaven's  first  law ;"  to  which  may  not  in- 
consistently be  added  this  other,  "  government  is  the 
soul  of  order." 

From  the  general  fact  of  its  evident  importance,  it 
would  naturally  be  supposed  that  government  in  the 
schools  would  be  marked  by  a  high  order  of  excel- 
lence. Whatever  might  have  formerly  been  its  char- 
acter, with  our  other  advances  in  educational  matters, 
improvement  in  school  government  was,  as  a  matter 


INTRODUCTION.       '  -11 

of  course,  to  be  counted  upon.  As  the  old  and  some- 
what nebulous  luminaries,  Murray  and  Morse,  Pike 
and  Daboll,  descending  through  a  right  parabolic 
curve,  sank  at  length  "  slowly  and  all  reluctantly," 
below  the  horizon ;  as  other  and  better  lights  began 
to  brighten  in  the  East,  and  men  were  seen  casting 
about  for  better  teachers  and  more  enlightened 
methods  of  instruction,  it  was  to  be  expected  that 
the  system  of  control  and  discipline  existing  in  the 
schools,  would  come  up  for  a  corresponding  interest 
and  attention. 

This  expectation  cannot,  however,  be  said  to  have 
been  realized.  True,  school  government  may  not  be 
found  remaining  in  the  exact  chaos  which  prevailed 
in  that  earlier  period,  when  the  school  entire  was 
"  without  form  and  void,  and  darkness  was  upon  the 
face  of  the  deep."  Yet  it  is  quite  certain  that  this 
important  part  of  the  scholastic  creation  has  not 
kept  pace  with  other  things.  It  has  not  with  equal 
interest  and  endeavor  been  evoked  from  the  waste 
and  darkness,  and  been  reduced  to  true  consistency 
and  order.  It  has  been  rather  neglected  and  left  to 
its  own  chance  of  uncared-for  growth  and  develop- 
ment. Hence,  it  still  remains  in  a  sadly  depressed 
condition. 

Of  this  neglected  and  depressed  condition,  there  are 
various  indications  which  deserve  to  be  noticed  on 
account  of  their  practical  bearing  upon  its  correction. 
As  the  first,  we  notice  the  fact  that  the  tide  of  pro- 
gress has  not  yet  swept  away  the  older,  ruder,  and 
simply  violent  forms  of  governmeut,  which,  while  not 


:1£:  • .  •'  ' '  i  . .  ■  .' •'*;  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

altogether  false  in  principle,  were  yet  most  rude  and 
base  in  their  application.  The  pitiless  rod,  the 
glancing  ferule,  the  burdensome  billet  of  wood,  the 
stooping  posture,  and  others  of  the  banging  and  bad- 
gering devices  of  the  former  age,  while  passed  some- 
what into  decrepitude  and  disesteem,  are,  neither  in 
their  more  flagitious  instances  extinct,  nor  in  their 
really  legitimate  instrumentalities,  reformed  and 
Christianized. 

Again,  even  where  these  evil  forms  of  government 
have  gone  into  disuse,  where  better  methods  of  in- 
struction have  sprung  up,  and  where,  consequently, 
especial  means  are  employed  for  the  training  of 
teachers,  it  is  quite  commonly  the  case  that  the  ab- 
sorbing topic  is  teaching.  We  see  no  good  reason 
why  an  educational  school  should  not  give  the  subject 
of  government  an  important  place  in  its  curriculum ; 
no  reason  why  it  should  not  as  distinctly  have  a  pro- 
fessor of  the  "  Theory  and  Practice  of  Governing,"  as 
well  as  of  the  "  Theory  and  Practice  of  Teaching ;"  at 
least,  no  good  reason  why  the  two  should  not  be  dis- 
tinctly and  equitably  conjoined  in  one  department, 
the  "  Department  of  School  Government  and  Instruc- 
tion." And  yet,  so  far  as  we  know,  such  an  organ- 
ization is  not  to  be  found  in  our  normal  schools, 
either  in  form  or  substance.  In  quite  the  larger  por- 
tion, school  government  is  taught  inferentially,  and 
even  that  as  an  incidental  matter. 

In  the  third  place,  were  there  nothing  else  to  show 
that  the  proper  government  of  the  school  elicits  little 
if  any  attention  on  the  part  of  the  public,  the  fact 


INTRODUCTION.  13 

that  teachers  are  commonly  examined  and  approved 
upon  the  basis  of  mere  scholarship,  might  suffice. 
That  which,  in  so  important  a  preliminary  as  the  test- 
ing of  the  teacher's  qualifications,  is  hardly  inquired 
after,  must  hold  no  very  high  place  in  the  public  esti- 
mation. Certainly,  if  school  government  were  locked 
upon  as  of  the  first  moment,  we  should  find  school 
officers  suspending  their  wise  explorations  in  the 
direction  of  geography,  grammar,  and  arithmetic,  in 
order  to  ascertain  whether  the  prospective  teachers 
are  possessed  of  correct  and  adequate  views  of  the 
nature  and  importance  of  school  government.  After 
they  have  been  learnedly  led  through  the  mazy  toils 
of  describing  the  method  of  finding  the  least  common 
denominator;  of  designating  the  barbarous  boun- 
daries of  sundry  ill-begotten  chiefdoms  in  Asia  ;  and 
of  unfolding  Brown's  singularly  philosophical  and 
exhaustive  mode  of  parsing  "  tweedledum  and  twee- 
dledee,"  would  it  not  be  the  next  most  natural  thing 
to  submit  for  their  solution  questions  like  the  fol- 
lowing :  "  "What  are  the  ends  to  be  sought  in  school 
government?  By  what  means  are  those  ends  to  be 
secured  ?  "What  are  the  respective  relations  of  force, 
authority,  and  influence,  in  the  government  of  the 
young  ?  What  facts  should  be  taken  into  account  in 
the  administering  of  discipline?  How  is  the  cor- 
rectness of  a  penalty  to  be  determined?  What  course 
should  be  pursued  with  extreme  or  seemingly 
incorrigible  offenders?"  But  no  such  questions 
are  asked ;  and  the  conclusion  already  suggested  is 
inevitable. 


14  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

Another  proof  of  the  neglected  and  depressed  con- 
dition of  school  government  is,  we  think,  afforded  by 
the  fact  that  young  and  inexperienced  teachers  find 
so  ready  and  so  general  employment.  The  wise  and 
effective  government  of  the  school  is  really  a  delicate 
and  difficult  work.  For,  consider  how  few  are  the 
accessible  guides  to  the  successful  accomplishment  of 
that  work;  how  subtle  and  often  profound  are  the 
principles  embraced  in  its  philosophy;  how  varied 
and  perplexing  must  be  its  practical  adjustment ; 
how  manifold  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered  ;  and 
how  sad  may  be  the  results  of  failure  to  govern 
wisely  and  well. 

Is  this,  then,  a  work  proper  to  be  undertaken  by 
any  other  than  a  person  of  broad  culture,  of  thorough 
self-discipline,  of  established  character,  and  of  ma- 
ture experience  ?  Can  any  other  than  such  a  teacher 
expect  to  succeed  in  it?  What  then  must  be  the 
effect  of  entrusting  it  so  commonly  to  young  and  in- 
experienced teachers ;  of  entrusting  it  to  those  who, 
to  the  very  possible,  as  very  common  want  of  native 
fitness,  superadd  the  lack  of  any  acquired  fitness  for 
the  work  of  governing  ?  This  is  the  evil  of  which  old 
Thomas  Fuller  complains,  when  he  charges  it  as  one 
of  the  causes  of  the  defective  performance  of  the 
duties  of  the  schoolmaster,  that  "young  scholars 
make  this  calling  their  refuge ;  yea,  perchance,  before 
they  have  taken  any  degree  in  the  university,  com- 
mence schoolmasters  in  the  country,  as  if  nothing 
else  were  required  to  set  up  in  the  profession  but 
only  a  rod  and  a  ferule."     In  such  hands,  what  ex- 


INTRODUCTION.  15 

cellence  can  school  government  hope  to  attain ;  how 
can  it,  in  fact,  escape  being  well  nigh  destroyed? 
Why  then  place  it  in  such  hands  ?  There  can  be  but 
one  answer  to  the  question.  It  is  because  the  im- 
portance of  the  government  is  not  realized ;  the  pub- 
lic concern  themselves  little  about  its  fortunes  ;  and, 
hence,  the  practical  conclusion  is,  it  may  be  entrusted 
to  almost  anybody. 

As  a  final  indication  of  this  neglected  condition, 
we  notice  the  almost  universal  absorption  of  the 
teacher's  ambition  and  the  public  interest,  in  the 
work  of  instruction.  Few  thoughtful  educators  can 
have  failed  to  observe  the  fact  that  in  our  schools 
the  matter  of  government  has  not  merely  dropped 
into  a  subordinate  place ;  it  has  sunk  almost  out  of 
sight.  How  very  infrequent  are  the  indications  that 
the  teacher  has  made  the  control  of  his  school,  and 
the  wholesome  discipline  of  the  pupil,  the  subjects  of 
careful  study  and  systematic  preparation?  Where 
are  the  pupils  found  possessed  with  the  idea  that  one 
of  the  first  objects  of  their  ambition  should  be  to 
develop  into  noble  subjects  of  the  school  government  ? 
Where  do  you  find  patrons  or  parents,  upon  the  oc- 
currence of  school  examinations,  evincing  a  lively 
interest  in  the  moral,  as  well  as  the  intellectual  pro- 
gress of  the  child  ?  On  all  hands,  the  interest  taken 
is  altogether  in  the  results  of  the  instruction  ;  the 
pride  evinced  is  altogether  in  the  amount  of  know- 
ledge that  the  child  has  gained,  and  his  readiness 
and  brilliance  in  exhibiting  it.  The  government 
of  the  school,   which   should  have  made  the    child 


16  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

patient,  persistent,  high-principled,  obedient,  noble, — 
that  is  held  as  purely  incidental  and  unimportant ; 
it  is  "  out  of  mind  as  soon  as  out  of  sight." 

We  pass  now  to  notice  some  of  the  causes  of  this 
depressed  and  neglected  condition  of  school  govern- 
ment. And  this  must  be  done  somewhat  carefully, 
since,  upon  the  conclusions  reached,  must  depend  the 
proper  elucidation  of  points  subsequently  involved  in 
the  discussion.  Of  these  causes,  the  first  to  which 
the  attention  may  be  directed  are  incidental  in  their 
character  and  influence. 

Under  this  head,  we  summarily  include  all  those 
accidents  of  our  school  systems  and  school  opera- 
tions, which  throw  obstacles,  either  mechanical  or 
moral,  in  the  way  of  the  institution  or  maintaining  of 
true  and  effective  government. 

Those  defects,  therefore,  in  the  accommodations  of 
the  school;  those  errors  in  its  organization;  that 
ignorance  or  neglect  of  school  officers ;  that  antago- 
nistic influence  of  parental  government ;  and  that  in- 
bred insubordination  and  lawlessness  of  human  nature, 
which  counteract  or  oppose  the  teacher  in  his  efforts 
to  institute,  perfect  and  maintain  good  government  in 
the  school ; — all  these  tend  to  defeat  his  efforts  and, 
by  making  school  government  a  failure,  depress 
it,  and  cause  it  to  be  neglected.  The  principle  ap- 
plied here  is  a  plain  one.  Man  everywhere  rever- 
ences success.  Success  is  always  an  end ;  often  an 
idolatry.  Hence,  the  common  tendency  to  treat 
whoever  or  whatever  is  attended  with  failure,  as 
worthy    of   little   attention    or   regard.      Whatever 


INTRODUCTION.  17 

then,  by  interposing  obstacles  in  its  way,  goes  to 
make  the  government  of  the  youth  in  our  schools 
either  a  partial  success  only,  or,  what  is  more  often 
the  case,  a  practical  failure,  tends  to  bring  it  into 
contempt. 

Passing  from  these  incidental  and  minor  causes, 
we  find  back  of  them  all,  another  altogether  more 
profound  and  influential. 

We  refer  here  to  what  we  shall  endeavor  to  show  to 
be  a  thoroughly  false  theory  of  education.  The  mis- 
taken views  which  have  long  prevailed  with  regard  to 
the  nature  and  object  of  education,  are  not  wholly  un- 
known to  our  more  sound  and  earnest  educators.  To 
such,  no  fallacy  can  be  more  apparent  than  that  in- 
volved in  the  common  notion  that  education  is  sim- 
ply the  development  of  the  intellect,  through  the  ac- 
quisition of  knowledge.  Its  evil  results  are  spread 
broad-cast  over  the  whole  field  of  public  instruction, 
and  the  so-called  development  effected  in  the  schools. 
Its  direct  influence,  which,  however,  seems  not  so 
distinctly  to  have  attracted  notice,  has  been  to  create 
that  diversion  of  the  attention  from  the  subject  of 
school  government,  already  mentioned. 

This  unfortunate  result  it  has  effected,  not  merely 
by  elevating  intellectual  development  too  exclusively, 
but  by  altogether  ignoring  moral  culture.  Discharge 
education  of  the  moral  element  or  simply  reduce  it 
to  a  secondary  position,  and  where  have  you  any 
place  for  school  government  ?  What  can  it  be  other 
than  a  mere  horse-boy  to  the  work  of  instruction, — 
that  is,  a  mere  means  of  holding  the  will  in  obedient 


18  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

waiting  upon  the  intellect  in  the  prosecution  of  its 
exclusive  demand  upon  the  opportunities  and  appli- 
ances of  the  school  ?  Not  for  one  moment,  we  in- 
sist— not  for  one  moment — can  school  government 
take  its  true  place  in  that  system  of  education  in 
which  the  moral  nature  does  not  stand  side  by  side 
in  privilege,  with  the  intellectual  powers ;  in  which 
the  discipline  of  the  susceptibilities  and  the  will  is 
not  held  equal,  (we  had  almost  said  paramount)  to 
the  development  of  the  sense,  the  understanding,  and 
the  reason. 

That  the  theory  which  thus,  to  the  discredit  and 
damage  of  the  school  government,  dissevers  the  moral 
discipline  from  the  intellectual  instruction,  and  indeed 
almost  ignores  it, — that  this  theory  is  a  false  one,  will 
be  quite  evident  without  extended  discussion.  The 
practical  workings  of  instruction  in  the  schools  show 
most  clearly  that  the  development  of  the  intellect 
cannot  proceed  successfully  except  under  the  aus- 
pices of  that  thorough  order  which  the  proper  dis- 
cipline and  control  of  the  susceptibilities  and  the  will 
can  alone  secure.  In  other  words,  the  pupil  will 
make  progress  in  learning,  only  as  the  school  is 
efficiently  governed.  This  is  the  testimony  of  ex- 
perience. 

Besides  this,  the  necessary  laws  of  mental  growth 
and  progress  are  in  proof.  The  development  of  the 
intellect  must  be  the  product  of  its  self-activity. 
Such  self-activity  must  owe  both  its  inception  and 
continuance  to  the  susceptibilities  and  the  will. 
What  the  pupil  is  led  to  desire,  he  purposes ;  and 


INTRODUCTION.  19 

what  lie  purposes  underlies  and  determines  the  na- 
ture and  extent  of  his  intellectual  application.  Quite 
clearly  then,  that  application  and  the  consequent  intel- 
lectual progress  can  attain  the  highest  character  and 
the  most  successful  results,  only  as,  under  proper  con- 
trol and  discipline,  the  combined  desires  and  purposes 
are  brought  into  a  cheerful,  steady,  and  growing  ac- 
cordance with  the  highest  want  of  the  intellect. 

It  is  the  very  common  overlooking  of  this  impor- 
tant principle,  which  occasions  so  much  waste  of  time 
and  labor  in  our  schools,  so  much  unsuccessful  study 
on  the  part  of  the  pupil,  and  so  general  a  prevalence 
of  a  crude  or  one-sided  culture  and  development 
among  those  who  have  ostensibly  been  educated. 

Higher  than  this,  is  the  proof  found  in  the  relative 
order  and  end  of  the  faculties.  The  end  of  all  rational 
activity  is,  internally,  the  attainment  of  the  highest 
dignity  or  worthiness ;  externally,  the  highest  bene- 
volence. Hence,  as  the  sense  is  for,  and  only  for  the 
intellect ;  so  the  intellect  is  for,  and  only  for  the  sus- 
ceptibilities and  the  will.  Clearer  perception  is  no 
end  in  itself ;  it  is  only  a  means  to  higher  knowledge. 
Higher  knowledge  is  no  end  in  itself;  it  is  only  a 
means  to  the  attainment  of  purer  and  more  intelli- 
gent desires  and  loftier  purposes.  Develop,  then,  the 
intellect  as  completely  as  you  will  without  mak- 
ing that  development  conduce  to  a  corresponding 
discipline  of  the  heart,  and  the  product  is  either  half 
abortive  or  fairly  monstrous ;  it  is  either  a  crude 
Hercules  or  a  dread  Lucifer.  Hence,  whatever 
theory  of  education  inverts  this  order,  and  subordi- 


20  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

nates  the  moral  to  the  intellectual,  is  clearly  and  in- 
trinsically false. 

It  is  important  here  that  we  give  some  attention  to 
the  causes  of  this  failure  to  do  justice  to  the  moral 
nature  in  our  school  training.  We  shall  briefly  no- 
tice three. 

First,  then,  it  is  to  be  remarked  that  the  economic 
value  of  the  mere  intellectual  training  makes  itself 
more  directly  apparent  to  the  vulgar  mind.  The 
advantages  resulting  from  the  boy's  proficiency  in 
"  reading,  writing,  and  ciphering,"  all  can  appreciate. 
How  those  acquisitions  work  into  the  business  pur- 
suits of  life,  and  how  they  bear  upon  success  in  those 
pursuits,  they  know.  But  not  so  readily  do  men, — of 
whom  the  mass  have  no  higher  conceptions  of  the 
objects  of  life  than  the  getting  of  a  living  or  the 
making  of  money, — not  so  readily  do  they  discover 
the  value  of  true  principles  and  a  just  self-control  as 
parts  of  the  boy's  attainments  and  character.  The 
bearing  of  these  upon  the  price  (so  to  speak)  wliich 
he  will  bring  in  the  market-place  of  men,  or  upon 
the  success  of  his  life-career,  they  cannot  well  esti- 
mate.    We  can  hardly  expect  them  to  do  it. 

Again,  a  strange,  an  unwarrantable  (we  had  almost 
said  cowardly)  prejudice  against  what  has  been 
called  moral  instruction  in  schools,  has  quite  gen- 
erally prevailed,  and  has,  doubtless,  in  some  part 
produced  the  evil  to  which  we  allude.  How  many, 
affected  by  that,  for  a  free  and  brave  people,  pitiable 
fear  of  "  sectarianism"  and  "  priestcraft,"  have  stood 
ready,  not  only  to  decry  any  attempt  to  introduce 


INTRODUCTION.  21 

moral  instruction  into  the  schools,  but  to  sacrifice 
outright  the  child's  intellectual  training,  rather  than 
to  have  proper  pains  taken  to  instill  into  his  mind 
those  moral  and  religious  principles  which  are  the 
crown  of  all  learning,  and  to  develop  in  his  heart 
that  manly  and  virtuous  strength  which  is  essential 
to  a  just  education  and  a  true  well-being, — without 
which,  indeed,  not  even  that  proper  government,  so 
necessary  to  the  favorable  prosecution  of  the  intel- 
lectual training,  can  be  secured!  And  yet,  this  is 
tantamount  to  entertaining  so  great  a  fear  of  some 
Pharisaical  or  fanatical  cleansing  of  the  cup  and 
platter,  that  it  is  preferred  that  they  should  remain 
intact  in  their  original  or  accumulated  vileness,  so  as 
to  be  neither  endurable  to  the  touch  nor  capable  of 
containing  anything  pure  or  pleasant. 

A  third  cause,  perhaps  less  direct,  but  not  less 
mischievous,  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that  almost 
all  the  current  philosophies  have  studiously  dissev- 
ered the  consideration  of  the  moral  nature,  from  the 
study  of  mind,  than  which  nothing  can  be  more 
unphilosophical.  It  were  bad  enough  to  compound 
ethics  with  the  philosophy  of  the  moral  powers ;  but 
to  dissever  the  latter  from  the  intellectual  faculties, 
in  the  study  of  mental  science,  is  an  outrage  upon 
the  truth  of  the  human  soul.  Were  it  possible  to  sue-, 
ceed  in  such  an  attempt  to 

"  Distinguish  and  divide 
I  A  hair  'twixt  south  and  southwest  side," 

the  only  effect  would  be,  as  we  have  already  seen,  to 


22  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

restrict  or  distort  the  views  entertained  of  the  intel- 
lectual nature,  and  to  cast  discredit  upon  the  moral 
nature  as  neither  essential  to  the  former,  nor  of 
dominant  importance  in  the  soul. 

Even  in  those  treatises  devoted  ostensibly  to  the 
study  of  the  moral  powers,  there  has  been  a  too 
common  avoidance  of  all  distinct  reference  to  the 
spiritual  or  religious  element  in  the  soul,  into  which 
the  moral  element  must  ultimately  be  drawn  up  and 
absorbed,  unless  it  is  doomed,  as  if  invested  with  the 
curse  of  the  serpent,  to  go  prone  upon  the  dust  in 
actual  abandonment  and  degradation.  The  natural 
effect  of  this  course  must  be,  as  may  be  clearly  seen, 
to  cast  discredit  upon  that  moral  training  which 
should  form  a  recognized  and  revered  constituent  of 
all  true  education,  and  the  essential  basis,  if  not  the 
complete  substance,  of  all  true  school  government. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  causes  of  this  failure  to 
do  justice  to  the  moral  nature  of  the  child,  and  to 
provide  for  his  moral  instruction,  the  failure  is  in  the 
highest  degree  absurd  and  pernicious.  What  is 
your  education,  with  all  its  intellectual  completeness, 
if  it  does  not  secure  that  the  child  shall  become  the 
true  man,  the  pure  friend,  the  worthy  parent,  the 
noble  citizen,  to  say  nothing  of  the  exemplary  Chris- 
tian? These  are  really  what  the  self-conscious 
spirit,  the  dearer  associates,  the  rising  generation, 
the  community,  the  organized  state,  seek.  "Without 
these,  "  the  rest  is  leather  and  prunella."  And  yet, 
these  higher  qualities  are  to  be  secured  only  through 
the  thorough  disciplining  of  the  moral  nature  under 


INTRODUCTION.  23 

the  wise  •  control  and  the  just  sanctions  of  a  proper 
government  in  the  schools ;  not,  however,  as  a  sub- 
stitute for,,  but  as  cooperative  with,  the  government 
of  the  family.  The  latter  is  prior,  and  should  be 
superior,  instead  of  being,  as  is  too  commonly  the 
case,  both  inferior  and  adverse. 

From  all  this,  it  will  be  seen  that  school  govern- 
ment is  not  only  the  proper  controlling  of  the  school, 
so  as  to  make  it  practicable  to  secure  the  ends  of 
true  instruction,  as  looking  toward  the  development 
of  the  intellect ;  but  it  is  also,  and  in  a  higher  sense, 
the  effective  disciplining  of  the  school,  so  as  to  bring 
the  appetites,  desires,  and  passions  of  each  individual 
under  rational  and  virtuous  control,  so  that  they 
shall  be  as  perfectly  subject  to  the  right,  as,  by  in- 
struction, the  perceptions  and  judgments  are  made 
obedient  to  the  truth. 

School  government  is,  then,  the  proper  ordering 
of  both  the  organic  and  individual  action  in  the 
schools,  so  as  to  secure  in  the  pupils  the  best  possi- 
ble development  of  the  mind  and  discipline  of  the 
heart. 


CHAPTEK  II. 

OBSTACLES   IN    THE  WAY  OF  GOOD    SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT, 
SPECIFICALLY  CONSIDERED. 

Importance  of  specific  notice — Obstacles  accidental,  organic,  and  social — 
The  accidental,  external  and  internal — External  contingent — Defective 
accommodations — The  beautiful  tends  to  order — Internal  contingent — 
Insufficient  apparatus — Organic  obstacles,  external  and  internal — Ex- 
ternal organic  —  Improper  distribution  of  departments  and  labor — 
Excessive  labor  demanded — Paralyzes  the  teacher's  energies — Internal 
organic — Imperfect  classification  and  want  of  system — Want  of  com- 
petitive examinations — Social  obstacles — Parental  opposition  to  good 
school  government — Neighborhood  antagonism — Official  unfaithful- 
ness— Radical  insubordination  of  human  nature — Practical  inference* 
— Difficulties  demand  improvement  the  more — Effort  should  be  com- 
prehensive—Duty belongs  not  to  the  teacher  alone — Too  much  not 
to  be  expected. 

In  the  preceding  chapter,  allusion  was  made  to 
certain  incidental  obstacles  which  stand  opposed  to 
the  improvement  and  perfection  of  school  govern- 
ment, and  which,  as  such,  are  a  cause  of  its  present 
depressed  and  neglected  condition.  Those  obstacles 
deserve  more  than  a  passing  allusion,  for  their  impor- 
tance is  such  that,  without  their  removal  in  good 
part,  even  the  general  prevalence  of  just  views  of  the 
nature  of  that  government,  will  not  avail  to  secure 
the  desired  reformation.  Indeed,  the  efforts  to  re- 
move the  one  and  improve  the  other,  must  run 
parallel,  to  be  either  consistent  or  successful. 

Furthermore,  a  proper  examination  of  these  ob- 


OBSTACLES  IN  THE  WAY  OF  GOOD  GOVERNMENT.   25 

stacles  bears  directly  upon  some  of  the  points  to  be 
subsequently  discussed,  affording,  in  case  of  some  of 
them,  a  partial  elucidation. 

Proceeding  with  this  examination,  we  find  these 
obstacles  to  be  threefold,  those  which  are  accidental, 
those  organic,  and  those  social,  in  their  origin  and 
character. 

Under  the  head  of  contingent  or  accidental  ob- 
stacles to  good  government  in  the  school,  we  include 
all  those  that  may  be  said  to  involve  the  material 
condition  of  the  school.  These  are  properly  of  two 
kinds,  the  external  and  the  internal ;  the  former  in- 
cluding whatever  pertains  to  the  external  accommo- 
dation of  the  school :  the  latter  involving  whatever 
may  relate  more  directly  to  the  convenience  of  its 
internal  operations. 

Among  the  obstacles  of  the  former  kind,  the  ex- 
ternal contingent,  must  be  included  the  unsightly 
location  of  school  houses,  bad  or  insufficient  play- 
grounds, rude  and  ill-conditioned  buildings,  ("  Gaunt, 
ghaistly,  ghost-alluring  edifices,"  as  Burns  would 
style  them) ;  buildings  not  only  an  outrage  upon  the 
possibility  of  architecture,  but  utterly  insufficient  in 
size  to  prevent  the  necessity  of  crowding  the  pupils ; 
rough,  unfinished  floors  and  walls ;  uncurtained  or 
unshaded  windows,  and  a  hard  uncomfortable  style 
of  desk  and  seat.  The  direct  tendency  of  all  such 
insufficient  and'  unworthy  accommodations  is  to  pro- 
duce a  rough,  ill-tempered,  insubordinate  nature. 
And  so  directly  do  they  tend  to  this  savagery,  and  to 
the  consequent  destruction  of  all  genial  or  humane 


26  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

control,  that  only  the  blindness  which  grows  out  of 
mere  greed,  can  fail  to  perceive  their  baleful  influ- 
ence, and  the  pitiable  folly  of  the  "  penny- wise" 
economy  which  allows  them  existence. 

The  true  correction  of  some  of  these  evils,  that  is, 
that  correction  which  does  not  stop  with  attaining 
the  nearer  limit  of  mere  comfort,  doubtless  comes 
within  that  nobler  field  which  it  is  so  much  the  fash- 
ion to  decry,  the  culture  of  the  beautiful.  But  decry 
it  who  will,  the  influence  of  the  beautiful  is  human- 
izing, and,  as  such,  it  tends  always  to  order. 

Of  those  obstacles  which  grow  out  of  internal  con- 
tingencies, we  may  enumerate  the  lack  of  proper  or 
sufficient  appliances  for  carrying  on  the  practical,  or 
in  other  words,  the  demonstrative  and  illustrative 
portions  of  the  work  of  instruction.  The  want  of 
ample  blackboards,  of  numerical  frames,  of  explana- 
tory cards  or  charts,  of  maps  and  drawings,  of  mathe- 
matical blocks,  indeed,  of  apparatus  generally,  can 
not  but  so  far  narrow  down  the  student's  work  to  the 
simple  book  and  the  mere  recitation,  as  to  furnish  no 
proper  or  pleasing  outlet  for  his  surplus  activity  and 
ingenuity.  In  some  cases,  that  activity  and  ingenuity 
will  doubtless  sink  back  into  sheer  dullness  and  stag- 
nation. But  more  often  it  will  unfortunately  work 
itself  out  in  acts  of  disorder,  mischief,  and,  perhaps, 
overt  acts  of  insubordination,  and  thus  burden  or 
counteract  the  effort  of  the  teacher  to  maintain  good 
government  in  the  school. 

Passing  to  the  obstacles  which  are  organic  in  their 
origin  and  character,  wo  define  them  as  being  those 


OBSTACLES  IN  THE   WAY   OF  GOOD   GOVERNMENT.      27 

which  belong  to  the  constitution,  or  to  the  working  of 
the  school  itself.  These  may  also  be  subdivided  as 
external  and  internal ;  the  former  including  such  as 
are  determined  to  the  school  by  the  will  of  its  patrons 
or  local  officers ;  and  the  latter,  those  that  fall  more 
immediately  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  teacher. 

Under  the  external  organic,  we  include  such 
evils  as  the  want  of  a  thorough  system  of  grading, 
and  of  a  consistent  distribution  of  the  departments, 
wherever  such  an  organization  is  made  practicable  by 
the  size  of  the  school ;  the  assignment  of  several 
teachers  to  one  room  ;  and  what  is,  especially  in  our 
city  schools,  the  most  common,  and  everywhere  a 
most  intolerable  evil,  the  want  of  a  sufficient  number 
of  teachers  for  the  aggregate  of  the  pupils  to  be  con- 
trolled and  taught.  These  evils  all  tend  directly  to 
discourage  every  attempt  at  good  government,  by  the 
unnecessary  labor  which  they  impose,  and  the  inevi- 
table confusion  they  create.  A  simple  reference  to 
the  underlying  principle  as  unfolded  by  Political 
Economy ;  namely,  that  of  the  necessity  for  a  distribu- 
tion of  labor,  will  suffice  to  show  the  correctness  of 
the  position  here  taken. 

With  regard  to  the  last  of  the  evils  specified,  there 
is  still  a  more  serious  cause  of  complaint.  The  diffi- 
culty is  not  that  there  is  simply  an  unwise  distribu- 
tion of  labor ;  it  is  rather  that  the  amount  of  labor 
required,  in  order  to  any  proper  instruction  or  gov- 
ernment, is  utterly  preposterous ;  for  the  teacher  to 
accomplish  any  satisfactory  portion  of  it,  is  among 
the  practical  impossibilities.     Overwhelmed,  as  many 


28  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

teachers  are,  with  such  an  excess  of  numbers  as  to 
preclude  the  possibility  of  individual  observation,  at- 
tention, and  effort,  and  of  any  direct  and  adequate  per- 
sonal influence  over  the  pupil,  what  can  be  the  result 
other  than  that  the  attempt  at  government  should  be 
altogether  in  the  direction  of  vague,  irregular,  and 
arbitrary  generalities  ? 

And,  under  the  burden  of  an  enterprise  so  perplex- 
ing and  so  hopeless  as  that  of  attempting  to  secure, 
in  the  face  of  such  obstacles,  a  consistent  order,  gen- 
eral interest,  close  application,  quiet  obedience  and 
habitual  respect  and  subordination,  what  can  be  ex- 
pected other  than  that  the  teacher's  ambition  will 
become  utterly  broken  down,  and  his  energies  hope- 
lessly paralyzed  ?  If  this  is  not  the  result,  then  you 
may  safely  set  down  his  as  no  ordinary  character ;  it 
is  little  less  than  heroic. 

Under  the  head  of  evils  which  are  internal  as  well 
as  organic,  and  which,  as  such,  stand  in  the  way  of 
good  government,  we  include  such  as  the  lack  of  a 
proper  classification  of  the  pupils  as  to  studies  or 
relative  advancement,  the  absence  of  a  definite  and 
fixed  order  of  studies,  the  absence  of  a  systematic 
order  of  study,  recitation,  and  exercises,  and  the 
failure  to  provide  for  the  school  a  system  of  special 
examinations  determinative  of  excellence,  and  condi- 
tional to  advancement.  Some  of  these,  it  will  be 
seen,  directly  counteract  the  interests  of  good  gov- 
ernment, by  inducing  general  confusion,  habits  of 
irregularity  or  disorder,  and,  in  one  instance,  posi- 
tive self-will  in  the  free  choice  of  studies.     The  List, 


OBSTACLES  IN  THE  WAY  OF  GOOD  GOVEBNMENT.   29 

in  failing  to  provide  the  highest  possible  stimulus 
toward  superior  application  and  attainments,  indi- 
rectly leads  to  the  same  injurious  result.  It  does 
this  by  not  opening  sufficient  channels  for  the  coun- 
ter-diversion of  the  pupil's  activity.  In  the  case 
of  every  restless  and  enterprising  nature,  each  new 
encouragement  offered  to  a  noble  ambition  is  just 
so  far  an  influence  tending  to  withdraw  the  attention 
and  the  energies  from  what  is  petty  or  culpable. 
Every  such  influence  favors  successful  government. 

We  pass  now  to  the  consideration  of  those  obstacles 
in  the  way  of  school  government,  which  are  of  social 
origin.  We  fear  it  is  not  generally  realized  that 
society  is  practically  opposed  to  all  really  good  and 
effective  government  of  the  young.  And,  among  all 
the  evils  which  such  government  is  called  to  encounter, 
we  apprehend  this  social  counter-current  is  the  most 
wide-spread  and  persistent.  Considered  with  refer- 
ence to  its  immediate  sources,  it  may  be  designated 
as  three-fold,  parental,  social  proper,  and  official. 

To  begin  with,  good  government  in  the  family  is 
the  exception  and  not  the  rule.  Parents  indulge 
their  children  at  home,  nay,  indirectly  train  them  to 
utter  lawlessness.  Hence,  the  impressions  of  both 
parents  and  children,  as  to  the  nature  and  necessity 
of  good  government  in  the  school,  become  perverted, 
and  their  feelings  under  its  more  personal  and  press- 
ing operation  become  really  demoralized.  They 
neither  think  rightly  of  it,  nor  appreciate  the  good  in 
it.  The  natural  consequence  of  this  is,  they  set 
themselves  against  such  government  just  so  soon  as  it 


30  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

touches  them.  When  the  lawless  will  of  the  child  is 
put  under  restraint,  or  his  insubordination  subjects 
him  to  discipline,  he  rebels  and  appeals  to  the  parent. 
When  the  indulgent  or  ungoverning  parent  finds 
his  child  under  arraignment  for  his  transgression,  or 
suffering  the  just  penalty  of  the  law  he  has  broken, 
he  rebels  and,  at  once,  joins  issue  with  the  teacher. 
This  done,  the  evil  spreads, 

"  Like  fire  in  heather  set." 
Other  children  and  other  parents  are  in  danger. 
Their  feeling  is,  "Why  stand  we  in  jeopardy?" 
Their  sympathies  aroused,  and  their  fears  excited, 
they  make  a  common  cause  in  the  conflict.  And  now 
Gog  and  Magog  all  in  commotion,  what  chance  has 
the  teacher  or  his  government?  Either  his  cause 
must  be  so  transparently  just  that  even  the  dense 
dust-cloud  of  the  general  excitement  cannot  hide  its 
merits ;  or  he  must  possess  both  a  consummate  tact 
and  firmness  ;  or  he  must  have  seated  himself  too 
firmly  in  the  confidence  of  the  school  officers,  or  a 
few  considerate  and  influential  patrons ;  or  his  cause  is 
practically  lost.  But  how  many  of  our  public  school 
teachers  can  command  all  or  any  one  of  these  con- 
tingencies ?  Comparatively  few.  With  the  rest,  then, 
the  case  is  clear ;  the  government  of  the  school  must 
succumb  to  the  home  government,  and  must  become 
as  depressed  and  neglected  as  that. 

Nor  is  this  all.  It  is  too  often  the  case  that  the 
school  officers,  being  of  the  community  and  quite  in 
sympathy  with  it,  fail  to  sustain  the  teacher;  per- 
haps they  even  oppose  him.     Instead  of  standing  up 


OBSTACLES  IN  THE   WAY   OF  GOOD   GOVERNMENT.      31 

like  men,  and,  true  to  their  official  responsibilities, 
checking  and  reversing  the  popular  current,  away  they 
go  with  it,  sometimes  even  drifting  down  on  the  fore- 
most wave,  perhaps  adding  to  its  destructive  rush,  by 
ostentatiously  exercising  their  "  little  brief  authority," 
in  either  censuring  or  removing  the  teacher.  But 
what  can  the  government  of  the  school  ever  be  under 
such  treatment  other  than  so  despicable  a  thing  that 
there  can  be  found  "  none  so  poor  to  do  it  reverence  ?" 

And  this  social  counter-current  is  the  more  formi- 
dable because  it  is  no  mere  surface-evil.  It  is  the 
surface-manifestation  of  a  deep  underlying  principle 
of  insubordination  in  the  human  soul.  Whatever 
theory  may  be  chosen  as  accounting  for  its  origin, 
there  is  little  enough  room  for  doubt  as  to  the  exist- 
ence of  the  fact  that  the  native  position  of  the  human 
will  is  one  of  incipient  rebellion  against  moral  re- 
straint and  authoritative  control. 

From  the  beginning,  the  outworking  self  prefers 
its  own  way,  even  to  the  countervailing  of  its  own 
best  welfare.  And,  as  the  general  law,  only  the 
long-continued  pressure  of  self-interest,  the  hard 
discipline  of  bitter  experience,  or  the  constant  and 
constraining  influence  of  acknowledged  government, 
ever  serve  to  correct,  to  any  adequate  extent,  this 
"  false  nature."  But  not  even  these  are  sufficient  to 
the  work  of  completely  restoring  the  moral  nature  to 
a  true  and  loyal  subjection  to  reason  and  right,  and 
thus  securing  in  it  an  abiding  readiness  to  yield  obe- 
dience to  the  demands  of  all  just  authority.  Here  is 
the  "  ineradicable  taint." 


32  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

There  are  certain  practical  lessons  which  it  were 
well  to  learn  from  the  foregoing.  The  natural  effect 
of  discovering  such  obstacles  in  the  way  of  all  at- 
tempts to  institute  and  maintain  good  government  in 
the  school,  will  be  to  create  discouragement.  To  the 
enlightened  and  resolute  spirit,  however,  they  will 
only  serve  as  additional  proofs  of  the  need  of  a  more 
determined  effort  toward  the  desired  improvement. 
They,  in  fact,  reveal  the  province  of  school  govern- 
ment as,  in  a  pre-eminent  sense,  the  true  field  for  the 
master  spirit. 

But  it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  as  has  been  al- 
ready suggested,  that  all  efforts  in  this  direction 
should  be  comprehensive ;  they  should  not  be  con- 
fined to  an  internal  manipulation  of  the  government 
itself,  but  should  also  embrace  a  reformation  of  the 
outside  influences  which  are  so  adverse.  The  scheme 
of  order  and  the  system  of  discipline  must,  of  course, 
have  their  share  of  the  attention,  and  must  be  made 
as  nearly  perfect  as  may  be  under  the  circumstances. 
But,  parallel  with  this  should  constantly  be  kept  the 
effort  to  remove  whatever  in  the  accommodations, 
appliances,  and  organization  of  the  school,  or  in  the 
condition  and  operation  of  society,  interferes  with  the 
attainment  of  that  perfection. 

And  this  is  broadly  suggestive  of  the  fact  that  not 
alone  is  the  teacher  responsible  for  the  existence  of 
^ood  government  in  the  school.  Upon  school  officers 
and  patrons  of  schools,  upon  every  member  of  the 
community,  rests  a  share  of  that  responsibility.  It 
is  for  them  to  see  that  whatever  can  be  done  to  re- 


OBSTACLES  IN  THE  WAY  OF  GOOD   GOVERNMENT.      33 

move  the  external  obstacles  of  which  we  have  spoken, 
is  done.  It  is  for  them  to  advance  means,  and  to 
second  measures  for  improvement  in  the  condition 
and  organization  of  the  schools.  It  is  for  them  to 
exercise  a  wise  self-control  and  reticence  as  to  med- 
dling with  the  management  of  the  school.  It  is  for 
many  of  them  to  learn  to  be  governed,  and  to  ac- 
quire the  power  of  governing  well  at  home,  before 
they  presume  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  teacher 
as  governor. 

And,  still  further,  neither  patrons  nor  teachers 
should  expect  too  much.  Great  improvement  may, 
by  proper  effort,  be  effected.  To  accomplish  all  that 
can  be  done  in  that  direction,  should  be  the  persis- 
tent, life-long  aim.  But  let  it  be  borne  in  mind  that 
many  of  the  evils  of  human  condition  are  remediless. 
Hence,  perfection  is  not  to  be  expected ;  and  when 
perfection  is  not  attainable,  failures  should  not  al- 
ways be  condemned  as  faults. 


CHAPTEE    III. 

DERIVATION  OF  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT  FROM  PARENTAL 
AUTHORITY. 

Importance  of  this  derivation— School  government  and  the  education 
of  the  young,  united— That  education  an  onerous  work— Not  to  be 
undertaken  by  every  one— Must  be  inspired  by  parental  instinct  and 
love— Necessary  reaction  on  the  child's  nature— Child-education  do- 
mestic—The idea  often  considered  as  Utopian — Not  due  to  a  fallacy 
in  the  theory— Due  to  a  lack  of  knowledge  and  leisure  among  the 
poorer  classes— To  a  lack  of  will  rather  than  capacity  among  the  rich 
— TJte  causes  of  these  deficiencies  twofold— -Too  little  rational  love  for  the 
child — None  live  properly  for  society — The  claims  of  society  para- 
mount—Society demands  the  proper  training  of  the  child— These 
causes  proofs  rather  than  objections— The  government  of  the  child 
goes  with  his  instruction— Parental  government  the  source  of  school 

government — It  is  in  fact  the  key  to  school  government School 

government  re-detined. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  discussion  of  the  nature 
of  school  government,  it  is  important  that  its  origin, 
or  derivation  be  ascertained.  From  that  source, 
whatever  it  may  prove  to  be,  we  may  naturally  look 
to  obtain  light  sufficient  for  the  distinct  revelation  of 
its  more  profound  principles  and  of  their  practical 
application.  In  that  direction,  at  least,  we  must 
look  for  the  earlier  indications  of  its  radical  charac- 
teristics. From  what  source,  then,  is  the  govern- 
ment of  the  school  derived  ? 

School  government,  from  its  very  name,  and  from 
its  definition  as  already  given,  must  be  seen  to  be 
inseparably  connected  with  the  education    of    the 


DERIVATION  OF  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT.  35 

young.  It. starts  with  the  first  attempts  to  institute 
that  work ;  it  grows  cotemporaneously  and  parallel 
with  it ;  and  only  with  its  completion  can  it  either  be 
superseded  or  expire. 

The  proper  education  of  the  child,  commencing  as 
it  must,  with  the  earlier  developments  of  its  intel- 
lect, and  extending  over  so  large  a  portion  of  its 
existence ;  covering,  as  it  must,  a  period  of  so  much 
dependence  and  weakness,  and  inevitably  encounter- 
ing so  many  obstacles  and  adverse  influences,  is 
necessarily  a  lengthy  and  onerous  work.  Indeed,  it 
is  safe  to  say  that,  whenever  it  has  been  undertaken 
with  any  intelligent  and  realizing  sense  of  its  true 
nature,  it  has  been  felt  and  found  to  be  one  of  the 
most  trying  that  can  fall  to  the  lot  of  imperfect 
humanity. 

But  a  work  of  this  kind,  especially  one  so  removed 
from  the  chances  of  pecuniary  gain  or  immediate 
reward  of  any  kind,  will  not  be  ventured  upon  by 
those  who  are  governed  by  no  higher  incentives  than 
those  of  personal  advantage.  A  work  like  this,  which 
must  be  wrought  out  slowly  year  by  year,  amidst 
constant  discouragements, 

"  And  all  for  love  and  nothing  for  reward," 

must  find  its  potential  inducements  in  the  deeper 
instincts  and  the  purer  affections  of  human  nature. 

For  such  instinct  and  affection,  it  needs  little  argu- 
ment to  show,  we  must  look  alone  to  the  parental 
nature  and  relation.  Only  in  the  parent's  heart,  may 
we  expect  to  find  the  forces  at  all  adequate  to  the 


06  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

inception  and  prosecution  of  this  work.  Out  of  the 
natural  relations  of  the  parent  as  parent  and  pro- 
vider, must  grow  a  sense  of  abiding  obligation  for 
the  present  support  and  development  of  the  child; 
out  of  parental  love  and  ambition,  must  spring  pa- 
rental concern  and  effort  for  the  future  welfare  of  the 
child ;  out  of  both  this  obligation  and  concern,  must 
emerge  the  primitive  attempt  at  the  child's  educa- 
tion ;  and  just  in  proportion  to  the  full  sense  of  that 
obligation,  and  the  intelligent  maturity  of  that  con- 
cern, will  that  attempt  develop  into  an  earnest  and 
thorough  system  of  domestic  culture. 

This  parental  derivation  of  his  culture  is  also  most 
necessary  to  the  development  of  a  proper  filial  tem- 
per in  the  child.  Out  of  the  child's  habitual  refer- 
ence to  the  parent  for  the  fulfillment  of  this  responsi- 
bility ;  out  of  his  daily  dependence  on  the  parent  for 
his  intellectual  sustenance  and  development ;  out  of 
his  growing  confidence  in  the  amplitude  of  the  pa- 
rent's capacity  as  a"  source  and  fount  of  light ;" — 
out  of  all  these,  must  grow  that  deep,  abiding,  and 
much  needed  regard  and  reverence  which  no  other 
being  can  claim,  and  which  should  not  be  even 
shared  with  another.  As  the  voice  of  the  parent's 
heart  must  be  ;  "  Those  whom  I  so  love  must  be 
anxiously  trained  for  their  highest  well-being,  and 
by  myself  alone,  since  no  work  so  solemn  and  so 
sacred  may  be  intrusted  to  another ;"  so  the  answer 
of  the  child's  heart  must  be  ;  "To  my  parents  I  owe 
that  developed  knowledge,  virtue,  and  power  which 
are  the  very  crown  and  blessedness  of  being ;  and  to 


DERIVATION  .OF   SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT.  37 

those  to  whom  I  owe  so  much,  I  am  first  and  forever 
most  in  debt,  and  that  beyond  all  possibility  of  too 
large  a  return  of  love  and  service."  And  so  should 
the  education  of  the  child,  as  domestic,  reduplicate 
the  force  of  domestic  care  and  sustentation,  and  the 
two  bind  together,  as  "  with  a  two-fold  cord  not  easily 
broken,"  both  parent  and  child.  Thus  would  the 
household  be  blessed  with  the  only  possible  realiza- 
tion of  a  perfect  and  lasting  unity. 

Hence,  we  urge  that  the  primary  view  of  educa- 
tion, notwithstanding  all  that  is  contrary  to  it  in  the 
existing  order  of  things,  must  be  that  of  a  purely 
domestic  training. 

But  to  many,  doubtless,  this  idea  of  education  will 
seem  fairly  Utopian.  As  they  look  over  the  whole 
field  of  society,  and  everywhere  find  the  intellectual 
training  of  the  child  so  completely  transferred  to 
other  hands,  and  so  many  schemes  on  foot,  and  those 
often  so  vast,  for  its  accomplishment  elsewhere  than 
in  the  home,  they  can  hardly  conceive  any  other  sys- 
tem than  that  of  parental  abdication  and  scholastic 
vice-royalty  to  be  the  true  one.  The  feeling  cannot 
but  be  strengthened  by  the  fact  that,  under  existing 
circumstances,  certain  advantages,  such  as  a  higher 
mental  stimulus,  more  extended  acquirements,  and 
general  harmony  in  the  popular  intelligence,  are  the 
common  results  of  the  prevailing  method. 

These  impressions  are  due,  however,  not  to  any 
fallacy  in  the  theory,  but  to  certain  practical  difficul- 
ties in  the  way  of  its  realization,  which  grow  out  of 
the  existing  erroneous  conformation  of  society.     So 


38  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

grave  are  those  difficulties,  that  we  even  admit  that 
it  would  be  quite  impossible  to  make  the  educa- 
tion of  the  young  conform  to  the  true  idea.  What 
they  are  may  readily  be  shown. 

For  example,  among  the  humbler  classes  in  society, 
where  less  ambitious  aims  and  greater  simplicity  in 
the  style  of  living  might  seem  to  allow  opportunity 
for  the  performance  of  this  work,  insurmountable  ob- 
stacles are  to  be  found  in  the  lack  of  the  culture 
necessary  to  the  parent's  becoming  the  teacher,  and 
in  the  lamentable  absorption  of  the  energies  in  mak- 
ing provision  for  mere  physical  comfort  or  material 
advantage.  Hence,  they  have  neither  capacity  nor 
time.  J3o  the  greater  interests  are  swallowed  up 
of  the  less, — the  seven  fat  kine  are  devoured  by  the 
seven  kine  lean  and  ill-favored. 

Among  the  more  independent  and  more  highly 
cultivated  classes,  where  the  requisite  learning  and 
capacity  might  be  found,  either  the  energies  are  ab- 
sorbed in  the  pursuit  of  the  more  ambitious  ends  of 
life,  or  the  style  of  living  adopted  is  such  as  to  mul- 
tiply to  an  excessive  degree  the  fictitious  wants  of 
both  the  individual  and  the  household.  Hence,  the 
heart  is  altogether  pre-occupied,.  and  the  requisite 
leisure  wholly  forbidden.  And  so,  ample  tithes  are 
paid  in  mint,  and  anise  and  cumin,  in  the  merest 
fashion  and  frivolity,  while  the  weightier  matters  of 
the  law  of  parental  obligation  are  neglected. 

And  the  grand  cause  of  this  is  two-fold.  Near  at 
hand  is  that  of  too  little  intelligent  and  real  love  of 
offspring.    Love,  merely  instinctive  or  animal,  there 


DERIVATION   OF  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT.  39 

may  be  ;  but  that  which  grows  out  of  a  careful  and 
self-denying  regard  for  the  higher  claims  of  the  child's 
nature  as  spiritual  and  immortal,  little  enough  is 
there  of  that.  So  far  as  these  higher  wants  of  the 
child  are  involved,  and  the  parent's  rational  obliga- 
tion to  provide  for  them  is  concerned,  the  mass  are 
like  the  ostrich,  "  which  leaveth  her  eggs  in  the  earth 
and  warmeth  them  in  the  dust,  and  forgetteth  that 
the  foot  may  crush  them,  or  that  the  wild  beast  may 
break  them.  She  is  hardened  against  her  young  ones 
as  though  they  were  not  hers  :  her  labor  is  in  vain, 
without  fear ;  because  God  hath  deprived  her  of 
wisdom,  neither  hath  he  imparted  to  her  under- 
standing." 

Somewhat  less  immediate,  but  not  less  serious,  as 
a  cause,  is  the  fact  that  comparatively  all  live  for 
themselves  and  not  for  society.  Setting  aside,  as  be- 
longing to  another  and  higher  field,  the  religious 
aspect  of  the  thing,  we  think  it  may  be  consistently 
urged  that,  in  that  associated  form  of  being  for  which 
man  was  designed  and  adapted,  and  to  which  he  is, 
in  fact,  so  necessitated ;  namely,  the  community  or 
the  state,  that  sovereign  selfishness  which  makes 
every  man  his  own  chief  end  of  concern  and  activity, 
must  be  pronounced  altogether  abnormal  and  false. 
Doubtless,  he  owes  somewhat  to  himself.  The  prin- 
ciple of  self-love  so  pronounces.  Self-preservation 
demands  it. 

But,  to  look  only  at  that  side  of  the  question,  every 
man  has  interests  vested  in  society,  and  those  of  the 
most  vital  character.     Indeed,  so  close  and  important 


40  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

are  the  relations  of  society  to  all  his  interests,  that  upon 
the  condition  and  character  of  that  very  society,  de- 
pends the  welfare  of  most  of  those  individual  interests 
in  which  he  is  so  apt  to  become  selfishly  absorbed. 
No  man  can  be  blind  to  the  best  interests  of  society, 
or  wilfully  neglectful  of-  them,  without  offering  a  pre- 
mium upon  his  own  damage.  But  beyond  this, 
society  has  a  claim  of  its  own  as  pre-eminent,  and,  by 
just  so  much  as  the  whole  is  greater  than  a  part,  is 
the  claim  made  urgent.  The  true  dignity  and  the 
true  happiness  of  rational  humanity  requires  that,  in 
society,  each  individual  should  benevolently  prefer 
the  interests  of  the  whole  to  his  own.  Men  owe  it  to 
their  own  rational  wisdom  and  moral  excellence,  that 
they  live  for  society  rather  than  for  themselves. 

But,  we  think  it  cannot  but  be  seen,  that,  in  a  very 
important  sense,  to  live  for  the  proper  training  of 
children  is  to  live  for  the  perfected  well-being  of 
society.  The  children  of  to-day  are  to  constitute  the 
society  of  to-morrow ;  and  he  who  may  have  little 
power  to  amend  society  among  those  who  now  com- 
pose its  fullness  and  strength,  may  labor  very  effec- 
tively and  hopefully  among  the  young,  for  its  future 
regeneration.  The  parent  who,  rising  above  mere 
sordid  pursuits,  and  turning  a  deaf  ear  to  all  the 
seducements  of  ambition  or  frivolity,  wisely  and 
faithfully  trains  his  child  for  the  intelligent,  able,  and 
virtuous  discharge  of  the  duties,  parental,  social,  and 
civil,  which  may  ultimately  devolve  upon  him,  is 
doing  society,  as  well  as  himself,  his  best  service. 
Men,  however,  do  not  live  for  society,  and  hence,  they 


DERIVATION  OF  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT.  41 

do  not  thus  give  themselves  to  the  education  of  the 
young  in  accordance  with  its  primitive  and  perfect 
idea. 

While,  however,  these  causes  are  enough  to  make 
the  realization  of  the  true  idea  as  thus  advanced 
quite  impracticable,  a  little  reflection  will  suffice  to 
show  that  they  are  practically  proofs  of  the  validity 
of  that  idea.  They  urge,  and  with  no  slight  force, 
the  native  consistency  and  excellence  of  the  domestic 
theory  of  education.  In  all  the  facts  which  they 
present,  it  cannot  but  be  apparent  that  they  lead 
directly  back  to  the  position  that  the  education  of  the 
child  should  be  domestic,  and  to  the  conviction  that 
it  is  because  men  are  either  ignorant  of  their  primal 
relations  to  the  race,  or  are  unequal  to  their  pro- 
per care,  or  wilfully  ignore  them,  that  education  is 
not  the  thing  it  should  be. 

Having  thus  traced  the  education  of  the  young  to 
the  domestic  circle  as  its  original  and  proper  terri- 
tory, and  to  parental  authority  and  duty  as  its  primal 
source,  we  are  prepared  to  assume  the  position  that 
so  soon  as,  for  any  cause,  the  work  of  education 
passes  out  of  the  house  and  into  the  school,  just  so 
soon  does  the  moral  discipline,  or  the  government, 
which  is  one  of  its  essential  parts,  go  with  it.  The 
government  must  domicile  with  the  instruction. 

This,  however,  reveals  the  fact,  of  which  we  have 
been  in  search,  that  school  government  has  its  origin  in 
parental  government ;  it  is,  in  fact,  a  contingence  and 
growth  of  parental  government,  and,  as  such,  must,  in 
many  points  of  character,  be  determined  by  the  stock 


42  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

from  which  it  springs.  School  government  as  thus  de- 
termined, is  the  temporary  and  conditional  transfer  to 
the  teacher,  of  all  that  part  of  the  parent's  authority 
which  is  dependent  upon  his  exercise  of  the  function 
of  the  domestic  instructor,  and  which  would  be  neces- 
sary to  the  successful  education  of  the  child  in  the 
home  circle,  according  to  the  primitive  idea. 

In  parental  government,  then,  we  are  to  look  for 
the  key  to  the  real  nature  of  school  government. 
The  latter  must  be,  in  the  temporary  and  specific, 
much  what  the  former  is  in  the  continuous  and  total. 
In  the  parent  must  the  teacher  find  in  good  part  his 
own  prototype  ;  and  in  the  teacher  must  the  parent 
cheerfully  recognize  his  own  natural  vicegerent.  And 
so  closely  will  the  authority  of  the  two  be  found 
affiliated,  that,  to  a  most  important  extent,  they  must 
stand  or  fall  together. 

Hence,  school  government  may  be  defined,  as  the 
exercising  of  that  authority  in  the  control  and  discip- 
line of  the  child,  by  the  teacher  as  the  parent's  sub- 
stitute, which  would  be  the  right  and  duty  of  the 
parent  were  he  to  undertake  the  work  of  educating 
the  child  in  his  own  part,  supplemented,  however,  by 
such  increase  of  power  as  will  make  it  commensurate 
with  the  larger  necessities  of  the  school,  as  involv- 
ing greater  numbers  and  requiring  a  more  stringent 
order. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE   CHARACTERISTICS   OF   SCHOOL   GOVERNMENT,   AS  DE- 
RIVED  FROM  THAT   OF  THE   PARENT. 

The  authority  of  the  teacher  as  delegated—  The  delegation  or  transfer 
complete— Interference  with  it  suicidal— The  authority  enhanced  by 
the  transfer— Parents  bound  to  second  and  strengthen  it— The  transfer 
a  finality — The  authority  not  to  be  resumed— The  child  not  to  be  with- 
drawn from  under  it — Such  a  remedy  worse  than  the  evil— Positively 
injurious  to  the  child— Disregards  even  his  natural  rights— The  one 
possible  case  of  exception— School  Government  not  necessarily  invali- 
dated by  errors— The  authority  of  the  teacher  absolute— -The  authority  leg- 
islative per  se— The  school  no  democracy— Successful  experiments  in 
this  direction  not  an  objection — Self-government  in  the  school  involves 
a  delusion— School  Government  looks  forward  to  self-government, 
but  should  not  formally  institute  it— False  ideas  as  to  self-govern- 
ment— The  authority  of  the  teacher  imperative— Decisipns  to  be  au- 
thoritative, unargued  — Logic  not  always  invincible  —  Reasonings 
may  be  used  as  a  supplementary  means— Decisions  of  the  authority  final 
— Appeal  or  reversal  reprehensible— Would  destroy  parental  govern- 
ment—Interference of  school  authorities  deprecated — The  teacher 
must  stand  his  ground  against  it — If  pverborne,  must  resign — The 
teacher  may  himself  reverse — The  teacher  may  himself  refer  to  the 
authorities— This  subject  to  objection—  The  School  Government  to  be 
benevolent— T&rental  government  too  often  selrish— School  Govern- 
ment not  exposed  to  this  error — Too  little  wise  forecast  in  school 
management — The  ultimate  good  must  be  paramount — Temporizing 
expedients  and  present  ends  inadmissible— Passionate  or  vindictive 
measures  reprehensible — Degrading  or  annoying  measures  objection- 
able— Ridicule  restricted  in  its  use — Satire  condemned — School  Gov- 
ernment catholic  in  scope  and  spirit — The  welfare  of  the  whole  the 
paramount  consideration — Parental  demands  for  specific  privileges 
objectionable— The  general  ecouomy  of  the  school  as  a  whole  to  be 
carefully  studied. 

Having  thus  traced  the.  government  of  the  school 
to  that  of  the  family  as  its  natural  source,  we  are  now 


44  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

prepared  to  inquire  what,  in  the  light  of  this  deriva- 
tion, are  the  characteristics  of  the  government  which 
the  teacher  is  to  institute  and  administer  in  the 
school. 

And,  here,  we  observe,  first,  that  the  authority- 
vested  in  the  teacher,  and  exercised  in  governing  the 
school,  is  substantially,  though  not  formally,  a  dele- 
gated authority.  It  is  in  substance  delegated,  since 
it  is  identical  with  that  exercised  by  the  parent,  and 
would  in  fact  remain  in  his  hands,  but  for  his  transfer 
to  another,  of  his  original  functions  as  instructor. 
It  is,  however,  not  formally  made  over,  since  the 
transfer  is  no  matter  of  stipulation,  the  whole  being 
not  an  act,  but  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  pa- 
rent's demission  of  the  power  to  teach.  This  result- 
ant lack  of.  formality  in  the  transfer  of  the  authority 
to  govern  the  child,  so  far  from  abating  any  of  the 
derived  characteristics  of  the  authority,  only  serves 
to  add  a  new  and  necessary  force  to  them.  Were  the 
authority  formally  made  over  to  the  teacher  by  the 
parent,  the  exercise  of  it  might  be  assumed  to  be 
subject  to  either  the  expressed  or  implied  stipulations 
of  the  transfer ;  but  going  over  to  him,  with  the  edu- 
cational functions  as  their  necessary  concomitant,  it 
carries  with  it  all  its  original  attributes  in  their  best 
and  strongest  character  as  not  arbitrary,  but  inevi- 
table. 

Hence,  out  of  this  unrestricted  delegation  of  the 
authority  of  the  parent  to  the  teacher,  grow  certain 
positive  and  practical  conclusions.  And,  first,  the 
transfer  is  complete,  and  the  teacher's  right  to  exer- 


DERIVED   CHARACTERISTICS.  45 

cise  the  authority  is  entire.  YHiile  there  are  author- 
itative rights  vested  in  the  parent,  as  parent  and 
providential  guardian  of  the  child,  which  he  may  not 
abdicate,  and  which  the  teacher  may  not  assume,  yet 
all  those  which  the  parent  might  possess  and  exer- 
cise in  the  control  of  the  child  under  the  process  of 
education  at  home,  belong,  under  a  system  of  educa- 
tion in  the  school,  to  the  teacher  alone.  If,  for  ex- 
ample, the  parent  in  training  the  child  himself  might 
insist  upon  punctuality  or  regularity ;  if  he  may  de- 
mand implicit  submission  and  without  appeal;  or 
if  he  may  administer  discipline  or  punishment  in 
this  or  that  form, — all  this  may  the  teacher  do,  and 
without  subjection  to  question  or  interference.  The 
parent  has  no  right  to  refuse  these  prerogatives  to 
the  teacher,  nor  to  disturb  him  in  his  necessary  ex- 
ercise of  them. 

Indeed,  such  interference  with  the  teacher's  pre- 
rogative is  worse  than  improper;  it  is  suicidal. 
Inasmuch  as  the  school  government  is  but  a  trans- 
ferred part  of  the  home  government,  by  just  so  much 
as  the  parent  restricts  the  teacher,  he  practically 
retrenches  his  own  authority;  and  by  so  much 
as  he  disturbs  the  teacher's  exercise  of  authority, 
he  practically  damages  his  own  administration  of 
government.  Hence,  it  is  commonly  seen  to  be  the 
fact  that  all  such  parental  interference  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  school  re-acts  upon  that  of  the  home 
circle,  and  so,  that  which  began  by  distressing  the 
former,  ends  by  hastening  the  demoralization  of  the 
latter.     Thus,  the  parent  plays  the  part  of  a  principal 


46  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

who  distresses  an  agent,  but  chiefly  to  his  own 
detriment. 

One  very  important  principle  evolved  in  this  con- 
nection, is  very  generally  overlooked.  The  prevailing 
impression  is  that  the  authority  transferred  by  the 
parent  to  the  teacher,  is  in  some  part  diminished  by 
the  transfer.  Few  parents  feel  that  the  authority  of 
the  teacher  is  as  important  as  their  own.  But  the 
fact  is,  it  is,  within  its  sphere,  even  more  important. 
The  transfer  of  the  authority  is  such  as  to  intensify 
rather  than  to  depress  it.  When  it  passes  from  the 
family  to  the  school,  it  passes  to  a  field  in  which  its 
situation  is  more  critical,  and  its  success  a  matter  of 
wider  concern.  The  larger  number  grouped  under 
one  control,  the  wider  diversity  of  dispositions  and 
habits,  the  more  stringent  demands  of  the  one  com- 
mon object,  for  perfect  order  and  thorough  discip- 
line,— all  these  call  for  a  stronger  hand  as  well  as  a 
clearer  head  than  are  imperative  in  the  simpler  and 
more  restricted  field  of  the  home. 

The  inference  to  be  drawn  from  this  fact  is  then 
necessarily,  that,  so  far  from  any  attempt  on  the  part 
of  parents  or  patrons,  to  disturb  and  thus  weaken  the 
authority  of  the  teacher,  their  first  and  most  impera- 
tive duty  is  to  sustain  and  strengthen  that  authority 
to  the  full  extent  of  its  rightful  demand  as,  for  the 
time  being,  superior  to  their  own.  Hence,  the  only 
impression  conveyed  to  the  child's  mind  by  either 
their  opinions  or  actions,  should  be  very  distinctly 
this ;  no  interference  will  be  attempted  except  to  sec- 
ond the  efforts  of  the  teacher,  and  sustain  the  law  of 


DERIVED   CHARACTERISTICS.  47 

the  school.  Complaint  is,  therefore,  worse  than  use- 
less, and  rebellion  only  ensures  a  more  complete 
subjection. 

Out  of  the  completeness  of  this  transfer  of  the 
parental  authority,  grows  another  principle  ;  namely, 
that,  except  in  a  single  case,  the  transfer  must  be  in 
an  important  sense  a  finality.  The  functions  and 
prerogatives  of  instruction  and  government,  as  we 
have  seen,  go  together.  If  now,  because  of  his  own 
incompetence,  the  parent  transfers  these  to  the 
teacher,  he  has  no  right  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances, to  resume  the  one  without  resuming  the 
other;  nor  may  he  resume  both  without  providing 
for  their  better  reinstitution  elsewhere,  and  more,  for 
their  reinstitution  in  substance  and  form,  enough 
better  to  counterbalance  all  the  evils  of  change. 

When  then  the  child  has  been  consigned  to  the 
teacher's  charge,  it  is  equally  for  instruction  and  dis- 
cipline as  one  and  inseparable.  Nor  is  it  competent 
for  the  parent  or  guardian  to  withdraw  the  child  from 
under  this  instruction  and  discipline  which  go  to 
make  up  his  education,  without  providing  so  much 
better  for  his  enjoyment  of  their  advantages  at  home 
or  elsewhere,  that  the  evils  resulting  from  the  arbi- 
trary change,  such  as  the  child's  loss  of  t;me,  the 
destruction  of  his  confidence  in  teachers,  the  strength- 
ening of  his  tendencies  to  insubordination,  and  the 
perfecting  of  his  faith  in  his  power  to  control  the 
parent  as  well  as  the  teacher,  shall  all  be  overbal- 
anced by  the  greater  good  secured  through  the  pa- 
rent's transfer  of  him  to  some  other  field  of  training. 


48  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

Unless,  the  alternative  here  suggested  is  secured,  it 
is  evident  that  in  most  cases  the  remedy  is  worse 
than  the  evil  which  is  the  subject  of  complaint. 
Send  the  child  to  some  other  school,  and,  though  he 
may  have  been  practically  in  the  right  before,  he  is 
now,  from  the  lesson  of  insubordination  which  has 
been  taught  him,  quite  sure  to  be  thoroughly  in  the 
wrong  at  the  first  opportunity.  In  this  case,  either 
the  original  battle  has  to  be  fought  over  and  fought 
out  at  last,  or  the  doubtful  experiment  of  change  has 
to  be  attempted  again,  and  under  circumstances  more 
dubious  than  before. 

Retain  the  child  at  home,  and  without  securing 
that  the  parent's  exercise  of  the  functions  of  instruc- 
tion and  discipline  shall  be  comparatively  faultless, 
and  the  gain  is  altogether  ambiguous.  The  parent 
has  practically  discharged  a  quack  from  abroad,  in 
order  to  turn  empiric  himself,  at  home.  Even  though 
the  latter  were  in  some  respects  better  than  the  former, 
the  disease  may  be  aggravated  by  the  loss  of  time, 
and  so  the  patient  is  the  worse  for  the  change.  So  in 
the  case  of  the  child,  it  is  a  cardinal  principle  that 
the  steady  and  sustained  application  and  enforcement 
of  even  a  less  perfect  tuition  and  rule,  are  better  than 
a  sudden  and  fractious  change  to  those  assumed  to 
be  better,  or  even  really  so. 

If,  however,  as  is  more  commonly  the  case,  the 
child  is  simply  withdrawn  from  the  school  without 
provision  for  his  education  at  home,  the  whole  is  of 
the  nature  of  a  direct  trespass  upon  his  higher 
rights  and  necessities.     Carlyle  has  somewhere  said, 


DERIVED   CHARACTERISTICS.  49 

"  For  one  to  possess  capacity  for  knowledge,  and  die 
ignorant, — this,  I  call  tragedy."  Yet  for  the  enact- 
ment of  this  very  tragedy,  he  makes  direct  prepara- 
tion, who  thus  withdraws  the  child  from  such  oppor- 
tunities of  training  as  he  has,  and  leaves  him  where 
he  has  none. 

It  has  been  intimated  that  there  is  one  case,  and 
only  one,  in  which  the  parent's  resumption  of  the  au- 
thority demitted  to  the  teacher,  is  admissible.  That 
occurs  in  the  extremity  of  a  prevailing  abuse  of  the 
authority  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  or  his  complete 
failure  to  administer  it  effectually.  But  let  it  be  ob- 
served that  the  conditions  of  the  resumption  are 
solely  a  prevailing  abuse  or  a  complete  failure.  The 
grounds  for  this  limitation  are  plain.  In  almost 
every  instance  in  which  this  resumption  of  the  autho- 
rity is  attempted,  it  is  based  upon  some  partial  ill- 
success  of  the  teacher,  or  some  isolated  instance  of 
faulty  discipline.  But  here,  as  everywhere,  action 
so  radical  and  violent,  upon  premises  so  narrow  and 
unsettled,  is  not  only  erroneous  but  reprehensible. 
He  is  not  far  from  being  the  greater  transgressor 
who,  for  a  natural  error  or  a  single  fault,  makes  a 
man  an  offender  beyond  both  the  enjoyment  of  rights 
or  the  chance  of  reclamation. 

There  are  defects  in  the  administration  of  the  best 
governments.  But  until  it  is  quite  certain  that  a  per- 
fect government,  and  its  faultless  administration  are 
immediately  attainable,  it  is  not  wise  to  denounce 
the  government  we  have,  or  to  inaugurate  actual 
revolution.     Hence,  occasional  slips  of  the  teacher  in 


50  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

the  exercise  of  discipline,  while  they  of  course  mar 
his  government,  do  not  cancel  or  cut  short  in  one 
iota  the  teacher's  authority.  Adopt  the  principle 
that  they  do,  and  you  bring  parental  government  also 
to  the  block,  for,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  itself  noto- 
riously wide  of  this  very  perfection.  Indeed,  bad  as 
school  government  is,  it  is,  in  the  aggregate,  much 
better  than  the  aggregate  of  domestic  government ; 
and  it  only  fails  to  reach  a  still  higher  standard  of 
excellence,  because  the  latter,  in  its  defectiveness, 
acts  upon  it  as  a  perpetual  check  and  counteraction. 
The  parent  or  guardian,  therefore,  who  pursues  the 
course  here  reprehended,  practically  condemns  him- 
self, and  only  needs  to  carry  out  that  course  in  order 
to  be  speedily  "  hoist  with  his  own  petard." 

The  second  essential  characteristic  of  the  teacher's 
authority  as  derived  from  that  of  the  parent,  is  that  it 
is  absolute.  By  this  we  do  not  mean  that  it  is 
absolute  in  the  highest  sense  as  underived  and 
irresponsible,  but  only  that  it  is  absolute  with  refer- 
ence to  the  relative  position  of  the  teacher  and  the 
pupil.  The  authority  of  the  teacher  as  sovereign  in 
the  school  is  in  no  way  derived  from,  or  dependent 
on  the  will  of  the  pupil  as  subject ;  nor  is  the  teacher 
in  any  way  amenable  to  the  pupil  for  his  mode  of 
exercising  it.  So  far  as  the  pupil-subject  is  con- 
cerned, the  teacher  is,  in  the  better  sense  of  the  term, 
a  true  autocrat,  and  may  both  take  his  stand  and 
carry  himself  as  such. 

Out  of  this  essential  principle  grow  certain  practi- 
cal inferences  which  not  only  go  far  towards  deter- 


DERIVED   CHARACTERISTICS.  51 

mining  the  character  of  school  government,  but 
which  decisively  settle  the  false  nature  of  some  of 
the  methods  of  government  current.  Of  these  infer- 
ences, this  is  to  be  observed,  first,  that  the  authority 
of  the  teacher  in  governing  the  school,  is  legislative 
per  se.  From  that  authority,  as  the  sole  originating 
source,  springs  the  entire  law  for  the  school.  Here, 
as  elsewhere,  true  government  originates  of  natural 
right,  in  the  higher,  more  specific,  and  somewhat  ex- 
clusive field  of  the  superior  intelligence  and  will, 
and  goes  down  thence,  according  to  its  own  clearer 
dictates  and  steadier  purposes,  to,  and  upon  those 
who,  as  constituting  the  broader,  less  intelligent,  less 
self-sustaining  and  self-controlled  mass,  are  the 
proper  subjects  of  government.  To  install  the  teacher 
in  the  school  upon  any  other  assumption,  is  both 
absurd  in  itself  and  false  to  the  nature  of  school  gov- 
ernment as  determined  by  the  law  of  the  domestic 
government ;  indeed,  we  may  add,  false  to  the  nature 
of  that  domestic  government  as  determined  by  the 
law  of  the  divine  government  which  is  its  natural  an- 
tecedent. It  is,  then,  for  the  teacher  as  the  select 
one,  and  as  the  superior  intelligence  and  the  abler 
will,  to  originate  the  whole  scheme  of  law  for  the 
school,  and  to  wield  its  sanctions  throughout  the 
entire  field  of  discipline.  And  these  functions  are 
imperative  upon  him.  Except  temporarily,  for  cer- 
tain specific  ends,  he  may  neither  suspend  nor  trans- 
fer them. 

Hence,  school  government  cannot,   according  to 
any  true  view,  be  taken  as  a  democracy,  either  pure 


52  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

or  representative.  Its  subjects  are  neither  capaci- 
tated for  the  exercise  of  the  functions  of  government, 
nor  naturally  entitled  to  them.  To  suppose  other- 
wise is  to  assume  that  those,  who  are  yet  confessedly 
unequal  to  the  work  of  self-sustentation  and  self- 
culture,  are  capable  of  self-government ;  that  those, 
who  could  not  originate  the  school,  can  wield  its 
organization  when  it  has  been  provided  for  them. 

It  is  here  freely  granted  that  experiments  have 
been  made  in  this  direction,  and  sometimes  with  no 
inconsiderable  success.  These,  however,  do  not  in- 
validate the  principle.  The  democracy  in  these 
cases  is  practically  a  fiction,  though  a  seemingly  fair 
one  ;  and  its  success,  however  promising,  is  equivocal 
if  not  deceptive,  and  otherwise  fallacious  in  theory. 
It  is  due  altogether  to  the  tact  and  skill  of  the  gov- 
ernor, and  not  to  the  self-active  intelligence  or  power 
of  the  governed.  Indeed,  in  such  cases,  the  whole 
cast  of  the  government  is  taken  from  the  conception 
and  leadings  of  the  teacher.  He  is  the  power  that 
wields  the  long  arm  of  the  lever,  while,  by  his  art,  the 
pupil  who  sits  astride  of  the  short  arm  is  induced  to 
exert  himself  strenuously,  as  if  he  were  really  lifting 
the  weight,  instead  of  being  himself  the  weight 
lifted.  There  is  perhaps  no  harm  in  his  making  this 
deceptive  effort,  no  harm  in  his  indulging  that  flatter- 
ing fancy ;  possible  even,  some  incidental  good  may, 
by  the  skill  of  the  teacher,  be  induced  from  both. 
Still  it  may  be  doubted  whether  it  is  consistent  for  the 
philosopher  to  assume  the  appearance  to  be  the  fact. 


DERIVED   CHARACTERISTICS.  53 

Neither  is  the  weight  self -lifting,  nor  is  the  governing 
self-government,  for  such  an  assumption. 

It  is  granted  here,  that  school  government,  as  per- 
haps every  government  should,  looks  forward  to  self- 
government,  and,  wisely  managed,  does  prepare  the 
way  for  it.  But  it  does  this  rather  by  maintaining 
its  own  autocratic  character,  than  by  abdicating  the 
throne  and  setting  up  a  supposititious  self-govern- 
ment, under  the  auspices  of  a  delusive  democracy.  It 
prepares  the  way  for  ultimate  self-government,  by 
developing,  through  the  observation  and  reflection 
stimulated  by  a  true  control,  a  just  conception  of  the 
nature  and  applications  of  law  and  its  sanctions. 
Still  more  significantly  does  it  prepare  the  way  for 
that  self-government,  by  training  its  subjects  to  an 
habitual  reverence  for  true  superiority  and  to  an  im- 
plicit submission  to  the  rightful  authority  which 
already  is. 

The  idea  of  self-government  irrespective  of  a  con- 
stant and  loyal  reference  to  a  government  prior  to, 
and  higher  than  that  of  self,  is  one  of  the  dangerous 
fallacies  of  the  times  which  school  government  should 
vigorously  endeavor  to  correct,  rather  than  to  w^eakly 
countenance.  So  also,  the  idea  of  the  possibility  of 
the  fair  institution  and  sustained  exercise  of  self- 
government,  previous  to  establishing  the  habit  of  sim- 
ple obedience  to  the  higher  authority,  is  another 
fallacy  as  common  and  as  fatal  in  its  tendencies. 
He  who  has  not  learned  to  obey,  has  not  learned  to 
govern ;  and  he  who  has  not  acquired  the  habit  of 
reverencing  the  just  requisitions  of  a  higher  intelli- 


54  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

gence  and  will  than  his  own,  cannot  render  a  true 
obedience  to  the  self-imposed  regulations  of  his  own 
moral  impulses  and  energies.  And  how  few  are  thus 
fitted  for  the  work  of  self-government,  is  clearly  indi- 
cated elsewhere  in  that  significant  and  divinely  au- 
thoritative maxim,  "  He  that  ruleth  his  own  spirit  is 
mightier  than  he  that  taketh  a  city." 

Again,  the  teacher's  authority  as  absolute,  must  be 
imperative,  rather  than  deliberative  or  demonstra- 
tive. .His  requirements  and  decisions,  in  whatever 
form  presented,  whether  that  of  request,  demand  or 
mandate,  must  be  unargued.  What  he  resolves  upon 
and  pronounces  law,  should  be  simply  and  steadily 
insisted  upon  as  right  per  se,  and  should  be  promptly 
and  fully  accepted  by  the  pupil  as  right,  on  the  one 
ground  that  the  teacher,  as  such,  is  governor.  The 
faith  of  the  pupil  in  the  equity  of  the  law  must  be 
begotten  of  the  authority  and  the  law  themselves,  and 
not  of  any  reasonings  thereupon.  When  the  occasion 
rightly  serves,  some  pains  may  be  taken  to  demon- 
strate the  rightness  of  the  authority,  but  not  the  rec- 
titude of  the  decisions.  If  that  rectitude  is  neither 
accepted  on  the  basis  of  simple  faith  in  the  authority, 
nor  on  the  ground  of  its  own  self-evident  claims, 
(which  it  will  be,  if  the  pupil  is  at  all  properly  dis- 
posed,) your  argumentation  will  be  either  thrown 
away,  or  it  will  only  serve  to  suggest  objections  cal- 
culated to  strengthen  and  embolden  the  rebellious 
spirit. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  fancy  that  the  sound  con- 
clusions of  the  logical  understanding  are  necessarily 


DERIVED  CIIARACTEKISTICS.  55 

invincible.  That  is  or  is  not,  altogether  as  the  will 
may  be  positioned.  Reason  with  the  will  accordant, 
and  all  goes  "  merry  as  a  marriage  bell :"  reason 
against  the  inclination  or  fixed  purpose  of  the  will, 
and  your  logic  "wastes  its  sweetness  on  the  desert 
air."  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  impulsive  and 
unreasoning  multitude;  and  the  child's  nature  is  pre- 
cisely that  of  the  multitude.  With  both,  your  reason- 
ing has  force  only  as  it  accords  with  the  inclination. 
Hence,  in  the  school,  as  in  the  family,  faith  in  the 
authority  is  a  far  better  basis  for  enforcing  the  de- 
cisions arrived  at  in  governing,  than  any  display 
of  their  logical  consistency.  Hence,  further,  the 
thorough  subjugation  of  the  will  to  the  authority  as 
absolute  should  always  antedate  any  resort  to  discus- 
sion or  demonstration.  When  effective  discipline  has 
reduced  the  subject  of  government  to  cheerful  obedi- 
ence, conclusive  logic  may  sometimes  happily  follow 
up  the  work,  and  complete  it  by  compelling  the  un- 
derstanding to  endorse  the  surrender  of  the  will. 

Once  more,  in  the  government  of  the  school,  as  in 
that  of  the  family,  the  decisions  of  the  authority  as 
absolute  must  be  final,  or  in  other  words,  must  be 
substantially  beyond  appeal  or  reversal.  To  allow 
any  such  appeal  or  reversal  as  a  recognized  element 
in  school  government,  is  to  conspire  its  speedy  over- 
throw. Any  such  reference  to  the  outside  authority 
of  parents  or  patrons  is  no  more  to  be  countenanced 
or  endured  than  it  would  be  in  the  case  of  the  home 
government.  Against  its  subversive  influences,  pa- 
rental authority  could  not  long  make  head ;  no  more 


56  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

can  the  authority  of  the  teacher.  The  principle  is  of 
equal  application  to  both:  here,  they  stand  or  fall 
together. 

This  is,  in  a  certain  shape,  one  of  the  very  obstacles 
that  parental  government  has  to  encounter.  Many  a 
conscientious  parent  understands  its  working.  Some 
stringent  but  wise  restriction  is  imposed  upon  his 
children.  It  soon  gets  to  the  ears  of  the  neighbor- 
hood. It  is  at  once  caught  up  as  indicative  of  pride 
or  exclusiveness,  or  as  involving  a  tacit  rebuke  of  the 
ungoverned  state  of  other  families.  Then  it  is  openly 
condemned  so  that  the  censure  passes  from  child  to 
child  until  it  reaches  those  under  restraint.  To  them 
it  comes  with  all  the  force  of  a  sustained  reference  or 
appeal.  Up  springs  from  this  an  incipient  rebellion. 
To  meet  this,  the  government  of  the  parent  is,  per- 
haps, put  upon  its  defense,  and  thus  its  authority  is 
irreparably  damaged.  As  with  the  domestic  govern- 
ment, so  with  that  of  the  school,  only  that,  in  the 
latter  case,  the  mischief  is  the  greater,  since  school 
government  is  more  often,  by  both  children  and 
parents,  held  as  a  lawful  subject  of  animadversion. 

Nor  is  an  appeal  to  the  school  authorities,  whether 
it  be  informal  or  legally  regular,  less  injurious.  The 
teacher  may  err  in  his  decisions,  and,  at  times,  his 
exercise  of  authority  may  be  unhappy;  yet,  in  the 
sight  of  the  school,  both  should  be  fairly  sustained. 
Jieverse  the  one  or  denounce  the  other,  and  you 
attack  his  government  in  its  most  vital  part ;  you  im- 
pair its  capacity  to  command  respect  and  submission 
even   where  its  demands  are  intrinsically  perfect. 


DERIVED   CHARACTERISTICS.  57 

Everywhere  among  our  youth,  the  spirit  of  insubor- 
dination is  so  predominant  that  it  is  not  safe  to  relax 
the  reins  of  government  at  all,  not  even  when  they 
have  been  improperly  tightened.  Doubtless,  some 
incidental  evils  may  result  from  this  unyielding  grasp 
of  the  authority;  but  let  those  who  are  governed 
charge  them  where  they  belong,  that  is,  to  their  own 
insubordination.  Hence,  rather  than  touch  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  school,  let  the  school  authorities, 
while,  perhaps,  privately  counseling  the  teacher 
against  future  errors,  promptly  refuse  to  entertain 
any  appeal  against  his  authority.  Let  them  bear  in 
mind,  that  errors  in  government  are  nowhere  un- 
avoidable except  in  the  fancies  of  fools,  and  that 
invariably  a  defective  government  is  better  than  none. 
Hence,  also,  the  teacher  who  finds  his  authority 
thus,  through  the  error  or  the  weakness  of  school 
officers,  made  subject  to  appeal  and  counteraction, 
should,  out  of  regard  both  to  the  preservation  of  his 
own  dignity  and  the  maintenance  of  government  in 
the  school,  coolly  stand  his  ground,  and  insist  upon 
the  enforcement  of  his  decisions.  If  he  finds  this 
made  impracticable  by  the  stubborness  or  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  opposition,  let  him  promptly  resign. 
To  remain  under  such  circumstances,  is  to  acknow- 
ledge himself  a  subject ;  is  to  confess  himself  defeated, 
and,  hence,  he  can  expect  but  little  more  than  to  be 
treated  as  a  conquered  enemy.  To  maintain  his  au- 
thority and  secure  good  government  in  spite  of  these 
adverse  influences,  will  be  found  a  difficult  and  a 
doubtful  task.     Both  self-respect   and  just  policy, 


58  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

then,  dictate  the  one  course.  A  change  of  base  will 
tend  to  re-establish  his  character  as  a  strategist,  and 
secure  a  clearer  field  of  operations. 

While  we  object  to  any  appeal  from  the  authority 
of  the  teacher  to  any  other  extraneous  source  of 
power,  we  by  no  means  cut  off  the  teacher  himself 
from  the  right  to  reverse  his  own  decisions,  or  reform 
his  own  administration  of  government.  As  absolute, 
he  may  both  make  and  unmake  law,  only  let  him  bear 
in  mind  that  the  latter  is  the  much  more  delicate 
work  of  the  two.  To  take  a  position  is  easy,  but  to 
retrace  the  steps  taken,  that  is  the  work.  This  retrac- 
tion is,  however,  sometimes  both  a  necessity  and  a 
necessary  evil.  In  such  a  case,  great  must  be  his  ad- 
dress who  can  effect  it  gracefully  and  with  unimpaired 
influence.  If  he  can  do  this,  let  him  do  it  by  all 
means ;  only  let  him  carefully  count  the  possible  cost 
beforehand.  Always,  too,  let  it  be  undertaken  at  his 
own  instance,  and  as  his  own  exclusive  prerogative. 

Beyond  this  case  of  positive  reversal  or  retraction, 
it  may  sometimes  occur  that  the  teacher  himself 
chooses  to  refer  the  points  in  question  to  the  consti- 
tuted authorities.  He  may,  for  instance,  be  well  as- 
sured of  being  sustained  by  those  authorities,  in 
which  case,  a  reference  only  completes  the  discomfi- 
ture of  the  refractory  pupil.  He  may  also,  in  the 
case  of  matters  which  he  does  not  consider  vital,  and 
as  to  which  he  has  no  choice,  prefer  a  reference  as 
a  means  of  escaping  a  direct  responsibility.  Both  of 
these  are,  however,  open  to  the  objection  that  the 
action  of  the  teacher  is  politic  and  evasive,  rather 


DERIVED  CHARACTERISTICS.  59 

than  frank  and  independent.  In  the  first  instance, 
the  pnpil  is  partially  imposed  upon,  for  there  is  no 
real  intervention  in  his  behalf ;  and  in  the  second,  the 
idea  of  a  divided  authority  is  directly  countenanced. 
For  these  reasons,  while  the  right  of  the  teacher  to 
allow  the  reference  is  clear,  the  propriety  of  resorting 
to  it  is  doubtful. 

On  these  general  grounds,  then,  and  with  these  ex- 
ceptions, it  is  urged  that  the  decisions  of  the  teacher, 
as  absolute  in  his  authority,  must  be  accepted  and 
maintained  as  a  finality. 

Returning  to  the  characteristics  of  the  school  gov- 
ernment as  derived  from  that  of  the  parent,  it  is 
urged  finally,  that  it  must  be  benevolent.  The  end 
for  which  the  authority  is  exercised  in  the  case  of  the 
teacher,  as  in  that  of  the  parent,  lies  wholly  out  of, 
and  beyond  himself.  The  control  and  discipline  of 
the  child  are  not  for  the  parent,  nor  for  the  teacher, 
but  for  the  child  only.  An  incidental  good  may  ac- 
crue to  both  the  former,  but  the  good  directly  sought 
is  that  of  the  child  alone.  And  that  good  must  be 
sought  even  though  no  such  incidental  good,  but 
rather  a  positive  evil,  seems  to  be  the  reward  of  those 
who  govern.  In  this  principle,  is  summed  up  the 
grand  humanity  of  both  domestic  and  school  govern- 
ment. They  are,  neither  of  them,  "  finely  touched, 
but  to  fine  issues,"  and  of  those  issues,  this  benevo- 
lence is  the  noblest. 

But  plain  as  this  principle  is,  it  is  too  often  over- 
looked in  both  parental  and  school  government, 
though  most  signally,  as  we  believe  in  the  former. 


CO  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

In  the  vast  majority  of  cases,  parental  authority  is 
exercised  in  pure  selfishness.  Not  what  is  for  the 
child's  real  injury  is  condemned  and  punished,  but 
what  is  productive  of  inconvenience  or  loss  to  the 
parent.  For  example,  the  child,  disregarding  the 
parent's  caution  against  carelessness,  breaks  a  win- 
dow. The  fault,  now,  which  is  brought  home  to  his 
conscience,  and  for  which  he  is  made  to  believe  him- 
self punished,  is  simply  the  loss  he  has  occasioned  by 
the  breaking  of  so  much  glass.  The  real  fault,  how- 
ever, was  solely  his  disregard  of  the  warning  given 
him  against  carelessness.  That  warning  was  given 
altogether,  (or,  at  least  should  have  been  so  given,) 
to  prevent  his  acquiring  the  always  mischievous 
habit  of  being  careless.  And  yet,  little  pains  is  taken 
to  impress  upon  the  child's  heart  a  sense  of  his  guilt 
in  this  direction.  Not  thus  is  he  made  to  feel:  "It 
was  unfilial  and  unkind  in  me  to  give  so  little  heed  to 
that  wise  and  loving  caution  against  carelessness." 
More  commonly  the  only  feeling  awakened  amounts 
to  this,  "  Confound  that  old  window !  I  wish  glass 
did'nt  cost  anything ;"  a  finality  that  would  be  su- 
premely ridiculous,  were  not  the  error  it  reveals  so 
fatal. 

In  the  government  of  the  school,  the  tendency  to 
this  evil  is  not  so  great.  The  combination  of  syste- 
matic instruction  with  the  exercise  of  authority, 
necessarily  keeps  the  teacher's  mind  steadily  under 
the  influence  of  an  object  that  can  only  be  sought  for 
the  good  of  the  pupil.  Thus,  the  steady  purposes  of 
the  instruction  as  a  benevolence,  serve  to  correct  the 


DERIVED  CHARACTERISTICS.  61 

possible  tendency  of  the  discipline  towards  seliish- 
ness ;  and  so  strong  is  their  pressure  in  this  direction, 
that  it  will  be  only  a  narrow  and  half-brutal  nature, 
such  as,  we  believe,  is  seldom  to  be  found  among  our 
teachers,  that  can  fail  to  be  controlled  by  them. 
Hence,  it  is  not,  and  cannot  be  at  all  common  for 
teachers  to  govern  according  to  the  mere  dictates  of 
personal  convenience,  or  to  administer  discipline  un- 
der the  irritated  impulse  of  some  sense  of  incurred 
discomfort  or  damage.  If,  however,  the  teacher's 
temptation  to  such  departures  from  the  spirit  of  true 
school  government  be  less,  it  behooves  him  to  see  to 
it  the  more  carefully  that  all  his  action  is  ordered 
the  more  perfectly  in  accordance  with  the  truest  good 
of  the  pupil  as  the  only  end  to  be  sought. 

But  there  is  a  point  of  great  importance  beyond 
this.  There  is  in  all  our  school  operations,  a  lack  of 
forecasting  wisdom  and  beneficence,  and  a  dominant 
content  with  such  provisions  and  attainments  as  are 
altogether  present  and  temporary.  The  child  in  the 
school  is  seen  and  held,  only  as  the  child  he  now  is. 
What  he  is  to  be  as  the  final  growth  of  his  present 
being  is  altogether  overlooked.  The  school  is  nothing 
beyond  its  present  necessities  and  effects.  Its  need, 
as  looking  forward  to  the  largest  ultimate  result,  is  of 
no  account.  Hence,  everywhere  the  insufferable 
school-house,  the  crude  furniture,  the  naked  walls, 
the  absence  of  maps,  blackboards,  and  apparatus, 
and  the  old  books.  Hence,  also,  the  cheap  teacher, 
the  unstudied  methods  of  instruction,  and  the  tem- 
porary devices  in  government.     But,  were  it  borne  in 


62  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

mind  that  the  child  is  growing  to  be  a  man,  and  that 
under  the  training  of  these  mean  and  miserable  in- 
fluences ;  were  it  realized  how  much  these  may  have 
to  do  with  making  him  in  recollection,  spirit  and  ac- 
tion, the  very  man  he  should  not  be,  it  would  seem 
incredible  that  the  provision  made  for  the  merely 
present  in  the  school,  should  not  be  raised  so  as  to 
conform  to  the  necessary  demands  of  the  future. 

All  this  should  impress  upon  the  teacher  the  im- 
portance of  the  grand  principle,  that  in  all  his  bene- 
volent control  of  the  pupil,  he  is  to  give  the  first  and 
most  anxious  concern  to  his  ultimate  welfare.  Pres- 
ent considerations  may  have  a  certain  importance; 
but  they  must  never  come  into  competition  with  the 
graver  elements  of  a  future  and  more  imperative 
good.  What  the  child  is  to-day  must  not,  either  in 
the  instruction  or  the  government  of  the  school,  be 
overlooked  ;  but  what  he  is  to  be  hereafter,  as  having 
been  molded  by  that  instruction  and  government, 
must  be  the  paramount  consideration.  Not  then 
what  will  suffice  for  the  immediate  pleasure  or  profit 
of  the  pupil,  should  be  the  teacher's  guide,  or  his 
measure  of  content  in  determining  the  direction  of  the 
law  or  the  sum  of  the  discipline  in  the  government  of 
the  school.  The  controlling  question  with  the  teacher 
must  be,  what,  notwithstanding  its  cost  to  me,  or  its 
pressure  upon  the  pupil  now,  is  best  for  the  prospec- 
tive welfare  of  the  latter  as  a  member  of  society  and 
a  subject  of  civil  government  ? 

From  the  foregoing,  the  folly  and  the  vice  of  all 
temporizing  in  discipline  will  be  evident.    The  teacher 


DERIVED   CHARACTERISTICS.  63 

is  sometimes  induced  to  rest  content  with  temporary 
expedients  and  half-way  measures.  But  the  very 
sources  of  this  inducement  might  suffice  to  reveal  his 
error  in  yielding  to  it.  Those  sources  are  generally 
his  own  indolence  or  sensitiveness.  The  rationale  of 
their  influence  is  this  ;  foreseeing  a  conflict  as  the 
result  of  adopting  the  latter,  but  more  severe,  course 
in  discipline,  the  teacher  is  unwilling  to  make  the 
strenuous  and  persistent  effort  necessary  to  a  success- 
ful issue,  or  he  shrinks  from  the  pain  which  he  must, 
for  the  present,  both  cause  and  endure,  and  so  he 
falls  back  upon  measures  that  promise  the  compara- 
tive attainment  of  the  immediate  end  with  less  ex- 
pense to  the  energies  and  the  sensibilities.  The 
natural  result,  however,  of  all  such  evasions  of  duty 
is  "  only  evil  and  that  continually."  They  commonly 
fail  to  secure  even  the  present  end  which  the  teacher 
has  in  view ;  and  the  painful  but  important  conflict 
which  he  seeks  to  avoid,  is  only  deferred  until  the 
occurrence  of  some  future  and  aggravated  complica- 
tion, in  the  adjustment  of  which,  the  labor  and  the 
pain  incurred  will  often  be  more  than  doubled. 
And  the  failure  to  secure  the  truest  welfare  of  the 
pupil  in  the  direction  of  moral  discipline  and  develop- 
ment is  equally  complete.  Instead  of  learning  the 
salutary  lesson  at  once,  and  being  thus  enabled  to 
grow  from  day  to  day,  under  its  fashioning  influence, 
into  the  perfect  subject  of  just  government,  he  goes 
on  until  the  final  struggle,  unsubdued,  stimulated  by 
delay  to  a  more  stubborn  resistance,  and  roused  by 
the  ultimate  but  unexpected  overthrow,  to  the  indul- 


64  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

gence  of  far  more  bitter  and  revengeful  feelings  than 
would  have  been  possible  under  a  contrary  treat- 
ment. Of  the  unhappy  influence  of  all  this  upon  the 
after  ideas  and  temper  of  the  man,  every  teacher  can 
judge  for  himself. 

As  another  inference  from  the  benevolent  charac- 
ter of  the  school  government,  all  passionate,  violent 
or  vindictive  measures  must  be  condemned.  Of  these, 
little  need  be  said.  Act  directly  as  an  influence  and 
an  example,  on  the  pupil's  evil  passions,  to  counte- 
nance, aggravate,  and  perpetuate  their  indulgence, 
they  assuredly  will.  As  certainly  will  they  re-act  un- 
favorably on  the  teacher's  character,  on  his  influence 
in  the  school,  and  on  the  authority  of  his  government. 
The  least  that  can  be  said  of  such  measures,  is  that 
they  are  unwise  and  injurious.  The  truth  more  nearly 
is,  they  are  unmanly  and  inhumane. 

Not  less  severely  must  all  means  or  appliances  of 
discipline,  which  are  of  a  merely  degrading  character, 
or  which  are  simply  calculated  to  badger  and  exas- 
perate the  pupil,  without  leading  to  real  subjection, 
be  reprehended.  As  it  is  inconsistent  with  the  pa- 
rent's self-respect  that  he  should  basely  humiliate 
himself  in  the  person  of  his  child,  and  as  his  wisdom 
and  benevolence  must  forbid  all  seeming  effort  at 
mere  petty  annoyance  or  retaliation,  so  must  both 
these  be  inconsistent  and  reprehensible  in  the  teach- 
er's administration  of  government,  resting,  as  that 
government  must,  upon  the  parental  basis  from  which 
its  derivation  has  just  been  traced. 

Perhaps,  also,  no  more  fitting  place  will  occur  for 


DERIVED   CHARACTERISTICS.  65 

a  proper  reference  to  the  use  of  satire  or  ridicule.  It 
is  true  the  topic  is  closely  related  to  the  consideration 
of  child-sensibility,  as  developed  in  the  following 
chapter.  But  commonly  the  use  of  these  two  ele- 
ments is  rather  a  matter  of  self-indulgence  or  self- 
gratification,  and  so  bears  directly  against  the  princi- 
ple of  benevolence  or  unselfishness  in  government. 
A  free  use  of  ridicule  or  satire,,  regardless  of  their 
species  and  influence,  is  pure  selfishness. 

Here,  then,  there  is  occasion  for  discrimination  and 
self-control  on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  Within  a  cer- 
tain restricted  limit,  a  simple  scholastic  ridicule ; 
namely,  that  employed  purely  for  the  purpose  of  cor- 
recting needless  error  in  knowledge,  or  persistence  in 
self-neglect,  and  where,  from  the  pupil's  known  char- 
acter, or  from  the  nature  of  the  error,  no  other  means 
will  subserve  the  desired  end  so  well, — such  a  ridicule 
is  legitimate.  But  whenever  ridicule  becomes  purely 
personal,  and  touches  defects  which  are  not  due  to 
the  failure  of  the  voluntary  nature,  but  are  constitu- 
tional or  excusable  ;  whenever  it  is  indulged  in  for 
the  purpose  of  mere  self-gratification,  is  mingled  with 
any  irritation  of  feeling,  and  is  enjoyed  with  the  keener 
relish  because  it  is  seen  to  sting  and  wound, — when- 
ever any  of  this  is  true,  ridicule  is  to  be  utterly  con- 
demned. As  to  satire,  much  the  same  is  true,  saving 
only  this  difference,  that  as  satire  is  usually  more  ex- 
tended and  caustic  in  its  character,  it  is  even  more 
dangerous  than  misguided  or  malicious  ridicule.  As- 
suming this  as  correct,  it  follows  necessarily,  that  all 
harsh,  discourteous,  vituperative  language  is  to  be 


66  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

utterly  reprobated,  and  for  reasons  the  more  evident, 
because  it  can  not  involve  a  particle  of  either  bene- 
volence or  self-respect ;  it  is  more  properly  the  very 
embodiment  of  coarse  incapacity  and  incipient  ma- 
levolence. 

Lastly,  like  the  parental  government,  that  of  the 
school  should  be  catholic  in  its  spirit  and  administra- 
tion. Always  considerate  with  regard  to  individual 
wants,  the  teacher  must,  nevertheless,  order  and  gov- 
ern the  school  for  the  whole  rather  than  for  a  part. 
This  is  his  only  consistent  and  safe  rule.  Some 
things  which  are  individually  desirable  may  even  be 
promotive  of  the  general  welfare.  In  addition  to  the 
specific  comfort  or  advantage  which  they  secure,  they 
may  reflect  general  credit  on  the  government  for  dis- 
crimination and  kindliness.  Other  personal  provis- 
ions may  not  noticeably  interfere  with  the  broader  in- 
terests of  the  whole.  OtherSj  again,  may,  as  inter- 
fering with  the  general  regulations,  or  as  establishing 
subversive  precedents,  directly  conflict  with  the  wel- 
fare of  the  whole.  In  all  these  cases,  the  application 
of  the  principle  of  catholicity  is  clear.  In  the  first,  it 
fully  sustains  the  propriety  of  the  individual  provis- 
ions ;  with  reference  to  the  second,  it  is  silent ;  as  to 
the  third,  its  voice  is  a  decided  prohibition.  The 
general  law  is,  then,  this ;  while,  as  will  be  shown 
elsewhere,  all  proper  discrimination  as  to  individual 
nature  or  need  must  be  made,  the  general  welfare 
must  ever  be  the  dominant  consideration. 

Ignorance  or  disregard  of  this  principle  often  leads 
parents  and  guardians  into  the  grave  error  of  de- 


DERIVED   CHARACTERISTICS.  67 

manding  individual  privileges  for  tlie  child  which  are 
inadmissible  because  inconsistent  with  the  good  of 
the  whole.  Thus,  for  example,  an  irregular  choice 
of  studies  is  demanded  for  one  ;  for  another,  a  priv- 
ileged class  or  seat ;  for  another,  release  from  some 
prescribed  duty ;  for  another,  exemption  from  some 
specific  restriction  or  exercise  of  discipline.  These, 
while,  perhaps,  in  certain  isolated  cases  possibly  unob- 
jectionable, may,  and  more  commonly  must,  as  dis- 
turbing the  general  order  or  establishing  dangerous 
precedents,  be  positively  injurious.  It  will,  then,  doubt- 
less, be  the  wiser  course  to  prefer  no  such  claims. 
But  in  case,  on  mature  reflection,  they  seem  desira- 
ble, let  them  not  be  pressed  upon  the  teacher  against 
his  convictions.  Let  him  be  left  free  to  act  according 
to  the  demands  of  catholic  unity  in  the  school,  and 
catholic  rectitude  in  its  government. 

From  this,  it  will  be  seen,  that  the  teacher,  instead 
of  acting  from  blind  impulse  or  specific  impressions, 
needs  to  study  carefully  the  economy  of  his  school 
and  its  system  of  government,  as  a  whole,  so  that  in 
their  clear  and  full  comprehension,  he  may  be  enabled 
to  prevent  any  maladjustment  or  undue  prominence 
of  parts,  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  whole.  Hence, 
also,  his  constant  effort  should  be  to  impress  upon 
the  mind  of  the  entire  school,  a  sense  of  its  prevail- 
ing unity,  and  of  the  rightful  predominance  of  the 
general  interest  over  every  other. 


CHAPTEE  Y. 

SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT,  AS    RELATED  TO  THE  SCHOOL  AND 
ITS  CONSEQUENT  CHARACTERISTICS. 

Importance  of  considering  government  with  reference  to  its  subjects — 
All  government  to  be  adapted  to  those  controlled— True  particularly 
of  school  government — School  government  to  be  applied  to  two 
classes,  children  and  youth,  more  especially  to  children — More  such  in 
our  schools — Children  more  governed  than  youth— Too  much  license 
allowed  the  latter — This  practice  reprehensible —  Child-character  in  the 
school— Method  of  discussion— Careful  classification  necessary — Traits 
classified  as  individual  and  general — Individual  traits  classified  as  inher- 
ent and  contingent,  mental  and  physical — Mental  characteristics:— Act- 
ivity considered— Mischief  often  a  legitimate  result  of  activity— Activity 
must  be  provided  for— Neglect  of  this  in  public  schools — Objectivity — 
Objective  representations  necessary — Indirect  utility  of  apparatus — 
Direct  application  of  objective  means — Christ's  use  of  this  means — 
The  objective  a  means,  not  an  end — Spontaneity — Effect  on  observa- 
tion, attention  and  memory — Inferred  laws — Care  as  to  involuntary 
impressions— Suggested  particulars — Care  in  presenting  things — Rep- 
etition necessary — Careless  repetition  injurious — Lack  of  method — 
Method  indispensable  —  Government  must  be  systematic — Intellect 
ready  but  not  strong — Inferences  prompt  but  invalid — Explicitness  de- 
manded— Principles  especially  applicable  to  the  child's  reason — "  Do 
right"  an  insufficient  rule — Practically  deceptive — Its  only  advantages 
— Sensibilities  naturally  acute — Child  often  abused  for  feeling — Govern- 
ment must  be  sympathizing  and  gentle — Feelings  to  be  diverted  rather 
than  suppressed — Double  utility  of  their  diversion — Child  sensitive  to 
praise  and  blame — Love  of  esteem  radical  and  deep — Exceptional  cases 
due  toabuse — Government  must  be  stimulating,  not  depressing— Stim- 
ulating kindness  especially  adapted  to  the  worst  cases — Method  of  its 
application—  The  child' s  purposes  fltf uL—¥itfu\nesB  impairs  development 
— Increases  the  teacher's  labors — Government  must  counteract  lack  of 
persistence — Failure  to  do  this  a  prevailing  defect — Defect  aggravated 
by  so-called  improved  methods  of  instruction— Particularly  by  tho 
exclusive  object  system— Physical  character  Mies— Activity  or  restless- 


RELATIVE  CHARACTERISTICS.  69 

ness — Origin  both  mental  and  organic — The  latter  cause  more  espe- 
cially considered — Exercise  to  be  secured — No  fixed  rule  for  exercise 
possible — Common  sense  on  gymnastics —  Gymnastics  restricted  in 
their  field — Absurd  in  case  of  young  children — Nature's  gymnastics 
superior— These  principles  applied  to  girls— Military  drill  compared 
with  gymnastics — General  inference  as  to  kind,  and  management  of 
exercise — Child'1  s  frame  immature — Violent  usage  to  be  avoided — 
Evils  possible — General  characteristics  contingent  on  tlie  constitution  of 
tJie  school — Mingling  of  the  sews— Constitutional  differences  of  the  tv  o 
to  be  regarded — Influence  of  these  differences  increases  with  age — 
May  become  the  only  means  of  control — Effect  of  contrasted  sex 
between  teacher  and  pupil — Error  in  instructional  organization  of 
boy's  and  girl's  schools — Heterogeneousness  of  pupils — Variety  extensive 
and  complex — Organic  adaptation  consequently  impracticable — Au- 
thoritative discrimination  the  only  reliance  —  Discrimination  not 
partiality. 

The  study  of  school  government  as  derived  from 
that  of  the  domestic  circle  reveals  to  us  some  of  its 
original  and  more  comprehensive  characteristics. 
But  the  study  of  its  nature  in  the  opposite  direction, 
as  determined  by  the  body  politic  to  which  it  is 
to  be  applied,  is  equally  important  as  calculated  to 
unfold  to  view  some  of  its  more  specific  and  practical 
traits. 

No  government,  however  perfect  in  theory,  can  be 
a  true  and  proper  government  unless,  in  all  its  prac- 
tical elements  it  is  so  framed  as  to  be  fitted  as  far  as 
possible  to  the  peculiar  character  and  consequent 
wants  of  the  commonwealth  over  which  it  is  to  be  in- 
stalled as  supreme.  That  which  is  a  true  and  good 
government  for  an  intelligent  and  virtuous  commu- 
nity, cannot  be  the  same  for  a  body  ignorant  and 
vicious;  nor  can  one  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the 
mature,  the  considerate,  and  the  self-controlled,  be 


70  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

expected  to  answer  as  well  for  those  who  are  young, 
inexperienced,  and  dependent  on  others  for  both  pro- 
tection and  guidance. 

Hence,  while  school  government  must  have  its 
fixed  original  characteristics,  it  must  also  possess 
those  which  are  in  some  sense  acquired,  that  is, 
which  must  grow  out  of  the  character  and  condition 
of  those  who  are  to  be  subjected  to  its  authority. 

School  government,  then,  as  related  to  the  school, 
we  find  applied  to  two  classes ;  namely,  to  children 
and  to  youth,  or  those  who  have  advanced  so  as  to 
stand  midway  between  childhood  and  early  man- 
hood. 

Of  these  classes,  the  more  prominent  must  be  the 
former,  since  for  several  reasons,  it  is  more  generally 
applied  to  that  class.  First,  it  is  quite  evident  that 
as  our  schools  are  constituted,  our  primary  and  public 
schools,  or  those  chiefly  made  up  of  children,  must 
constitute  the  largest  class,  so  that  even  though 
their  individual  numbers  may  be  less,  their  aggre- 
gate of  pupils  must  exceed  that  of  the  youth,  or  the 
older  class  embraced  in  our  higher  institutions  of 
learning. 

Secondly,  it  is,  we  think,  the  fact,  though  an  anom- 
alous and  unreasonable  one,  that  the  government  is 
practically  made  to  be  more  for  the  children  than  for 
the  youth  of  the  community ;  that  is,  it  is  made  more 
continuous,  systematic,  and  rigorous  for  the  former 
than  for  the  latter  class.  Indeed,  it  is  one  fault  of 
the  higher  schools,  that  their  government  instead  of 
increasing  its  demands  with  the  increased  capacity 


RELATIVE    CHARACTERISTICS.  71 

and  responsibility  of  the  pupil,  tends  contrarywise  to 
greater  irregularity  and  laxity,  in  many  eases  amount- 
ing to  little  more  than  an  apology  for  government. 
Indeed,  in  the  management  of  these  youth,  according 
to  the  usages  of  many  of  our  higher  schools,  the  only 
end  directly  sought  seems  to  be  that  of  acquired  learn- 
ing, the  matter  of  discipline  in  training  being  treated 
altogether  as  secondary  and  incidental, — in  fact,  as  a 
sort  of  necessary  evil.  The  sum  of  the  teacher's  anx- 
iety and  inquisition  is  the  mere  result  in  recitation ; 
the  student's  methods  and  habits  of  study,  matters 
far  more  important  to  his  after  success,  are  left  to  his 
own  ignorance  and  unconcern.  If  the  student  recites 
the  prescribed  amount  correctly,  his  work  is  accepted 
as  done,  and  the  teacher's  duty  as  discharged  ;  and  yet 
the  student's  study  may  have  been  exceedingly  desul- 
tory and  vicious,  a  thoroughly  ragged  compound  of 
application  and  skylarking,  to  the  correction  of  which 
the  teacher  has  given  no  thought  whatever. 

Now,  the  least  that  can  be  said  of  this  lax  system 
of  controlling  the  youth  in  our  schools,  is  that  it  is 
exceedingly  questionable.  Instead  of  this  general 
presumption  in  favor  of  the  teacher's  release  from  re- 
sponsibility for  the  student's  habits,  and  in  favor  of 
the  student's  capacity  and  disposition  for  self-control 
and  discipline,  it  is  a  question  whether  it  were  not 
wiser  to  bring  these  half-grown  candidates  for  future 
lawlessness  and  misrule,  under  the  same  exact  disci- 
pline which  is  meted  out  to  their  younger,  but  no 
more  needy,  associates.  It  is  a  question  whether,  of 
the  two  evils  which  mark  our  management  of  our 


72  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

youth ;  namely  imperfect  government,  and  too  early 
emancipation  from  what  government  there  is,  the  lat- 
ter is  not  the  least  excusable,  and  the  most  pernicious. 
Against  the  former,  human  nature  might  offset  its  own 
weakness ;  but  over  against  the  latter,  it  has  nothing 
to  place  but  its  own  culpable  folly  and  indulgence. 

Finding  school  government  practically  applied  to 
children  rather  than  youth,  we  pass  to  the  considera- 
tion of  child-character  in  the  school  as  determinative, 
in  some  part,  of  the  character  of  the  government  re- 
lated to  it.  In  a  former  portion  of  this  work,  we  dis- 
cussed the  derivation  of  school  government,  and  its 
consequent  characteristics,  in  separate  chapters.  In 
considering,  however,  its  application  to  children  in 
the  school,  it  is  practically  more  convenient  and  ef- 
fective, to  present  the  facts  and  inferences  together, 
so  that  the  characteristics  deduced  shall  be  found  in 
immediate  dependence  on  the  personal  traits  which 
give  rise  to  them,  and  with  which  they  are  closely  in- 
terwoven. Inasmuch,  now,  as  the  field  upon  which 
we  are  entering  is  somewhat  intricate,  a  close  and 
somewhat  formal  classification  of  the  facts  will  be 
necessary.  Aside  from  this,  the  importance  of  the 
conclusions  to  be  reached,  makes  a  certain  degree  of 
thoroughness  imperative. 

The  facts  or  traits  of  child-character,  to  be  consid- 
ered in  this  connection,  may  be  primarily  classified,  as 
individual  and  general ;  or  those  which  belong  to  the 
child  as  an  individual,  and  those  which  mark  the 
children  of  the  school  as  a  body.  The  class  termed 
individual  may  be  further  divided  into  two  species ; 


RELATIVE    CHARACTERISTICS.  73 

the  inherent  and  the  contingent, — the  former  including 
such  characteristics  as  belong  to  the  child's  nature  in 
itself  considered,  and  the  latter  embracing  those  traits 
which  have  been  fastened  upon  that  nature  by  pecu- 
liar external  influences.  Without  running  into  the 
trite  and,  for  our  purpose  unnecessary,  threefold  di- 
vision of  these  characteristics,  into  the  physical,  in- 
tellectual, and  moral,  we  shall  content  ourselves  with 
distributing  them,  summarily  without  definition,  un- 
der the  two  main  heads,  the  mental  and  the  physical, 
and  with  considering  the  inherent  and  the  contingent 
together.  We  are  now  prepared  to  enter  upon  the 
consideration  of  the  characteristics  of  the  child's 
mental  exercises. 

Of  these  characteristics,  the  first  in  order,  and 
perhaps  the  most  noticeable  of  all,  is  activity. 
There  may  be  cases  in  which  the  child's  mind 
appears  to  be  either  sluggish  or  inactive.  This, 
however,  should  be  assumed  to  be  altogether  an  ab- 
normal condition.  In  most  cases,  it  can  be  directly 
traced  to  physical  malformation  or  debility.  In 
proper  health,  mental  activity  is  at  once  the  symbol 
of  the  health,  and  the  law  of  the  child's  mind.  Idle, 
it  cannot  and  will  not  be.  Its  whole  nature  revolts 
from  it.  What  is  currently  stigmatised  as  mischief, 
is  but  the  perpetual  protest  of  the  child's  nature 
against  lack  of  proper  and  sufficient  employment. 
So  far  from  being  blameworthy  for  the  ingenious  and 
indefatigable  inauguration  of  so  much  of  this  so- 
called  mischief,  the  child  is  innocent,  and,  in  the  light 
of  nature,  even  praisworthy.     He  is  but  exercising  as 

4 


74  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

he  best  can,  the  powers  he  was  designed  to  exercise, 
and  through  exercise,  develop.  It  is  the  parent  or 
the  teacher  who  is  at  fault ;  and,  in  censuring  the 
child,  he  stands  really  self-condemned,  for  he  prac- 
tically pleads  guilty  to  the  knowledge  of  active  facul- 
ties, for  which  he  has  taken  no  care  to  furnish  proper 
and  sufficient  employment. 

The  principle  to  be  deduced  from  these  facts,  is 
unmistakable.  The  teacher  must,  in  his  management 
of  the  school,  make  ample  provision  for  this  super- 
abundant activity.  It  is  impossible,  otherwise,  for 
his  government  to  be  just.  If  he  leaves  the  child  to 
idleness  during  any  portion  of  the  school  session,  or 
throws  him  upon  his  own  resources  for  proper  em- 
ployment or  amusement,  it  will  certainly  not  be  com- 
petent for  him  to  hold  that  child  amenable  to  strict 
discipline,  because,  forsooth,  his  self-applied  activity, 
in  any  part  fails  to  accord  with  the  aims  or  regula- 
tions of  the  school.  But,  inasmuch  as  it  cannot  con- 
sist with  the  teacher's  duty  or  policy  to  license  any 
such  discordant  activity,  it  is  imperative  on  him  to 
provide  for  it  outlets  that  are  both  proper  and  profit- 
able. In  the  case  of  the  more  active  and  somewhat 
restless  minds,  this  must  be  a  subject  of  careful  study* 
and  an  object  of  ingenious  and  patient  effort.  In 
this  direction,  lies  one  of  the  gravest  faults  of  our 
public  schools,  in  their  treatment  of  primary  pupils. 
Not  advanced  enough  to  employ  their  time  profit- 
ably or  pleasantly  in  the  study  of  assigned  lessons, 
they  are  condemned,  during  the  intervals  between 
their  exercises,  to  sit  in  irksome  idleness,  upon  seats 


RELATIVE   CHARACTERISTICS.  75 

or  benches  "which  are  only  adapted  to  the  purposes 
of  torture,  waiting  painfully  for  the  next  exercise,  or 
longing  for  the  coming  of  the  recess.  "With  nothing 
provided  for  their  pleasant  employment, — no  slates 
and  pencils,  no  alphabet  blocks,  no  picture  cards,  not 
even  scissors  and  paper,  or  peas  and  sticks,  they 
might  well  be  pardoned,  not  only  for  occasioning  dis- 
order, but  even  for  openly  revolting  against  a  system 
which  seems  expressly  designed  to  oppress  their  nat- 
ural activity. 

A  second  characteristic  of  the  child's  mind,  to  be 
noted  for  its  bearing  on  the  government  of  the  school, 
is  its  tendency  to  objectivity.  Things  taken  in  the  ab- 
stract, or  considered  with  sole  reference  to  the  sub- 
jective idea,  are  thoroughly  foreign  to  his  nature. 
Bring  before  him  the  objective  form  of  which  he  may 
take  cognizance  through  his  ever  active  senses,  and 
in  which  he  may  see  symbolized  the  inward  idea  or 
the  dry  abstraction,  and  he  is  at  once  at  home  and 
on  the  alert.  The  world  of  sensible  forms  with  all 
their  variety,  beauty  and  mystery,  is  eminently  the 
child's  world ;  in  it,  he  dwells  with  living  delight ; 
upon  it,  his  craving  mental  activity  fastens  for  suste- 
nance ;  through  it,  his  perceptions  feel  their  way  to 
hidden  truths ;  and  out  of  its  elements,  his  restless 
though  simple  and  somewhat  barbaric  fancy  is  ever 
struggling  to  build  new  combinations  of  his  own,  often 
the  prototypes  of  the  ultimate  creations  of  the  manly 
imagination. 

Out  of  this,  arises  the  necessity  of  the  teacher's 
availing  himself,  as  far  as  is  practicable,  of  objective 


76  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

reference  or  illustration,  in  his  presentation  of  facts, 
principles  and  relations,  in  order  that  the  child's  ob- 
servation may  be  attracted  towards  that  which  may 
be  otherwise  abstract  or  alien  to  his  thought ;  and 
that  his  attention  may  be  happily  aided  in  its  attempt 
to  fasten  upon,  and  fix  in  the  apprehension,  things 
that  must  be  otherwise  vague  and  unsatisfactory. 

While  the  common  idea  is  that  blackboards,  dia- 
grams, maps,  and  apparatus  generally,  are  only  ap- 
plicable to  the  purposes  of  instruction,  a  truer  view 
discovers  in  them  an  important  susceptibility  of 
application  to  the  uses  of  government.  Certainly, 
just  so  far  as  the  proper  employment  of  these  objec- 
tive instrumentalities  meets  the  wants  of  the  child's 
mind,  and  absorbs  all  its  activity  in  the  new  interest 
created,  just  so  far  does  it  divert  his  attention  from 
unlawful  objects,  and  forestall  his  temptation  to  in- 
dulge in  idle  mischief  or  actual  disorder.  To  one 
conversant  with  school  operations,  no  truism  is  clearer 
than  this ;  the  more  interesting  all  the  exercises  of 
the  school,  the  more  easy  its  general  control. 

But  still  further,  it  is  even  possible  to  make  a  direct 
use  of  objective  means  in  the  administration  of  the 
government  of  the  school.  It  is  quite  within  the 
power  of  the  skillful  teacher  to  lead  the  child's  mind, 
by  some  seemingly  remote  reference  to  objective 
facts,  to  an  unconscious  admission  of  principles  that 
are  ultimately  discovered  to  have  a  close  and  conclu- 
sive personal  application.  Take  as  illustrative  of  this, 
Christ's  reference  to  the  tribute-money  and  his  de- 
mand; "Whose  image  and  superscription  is  this?" 


RELATIVE    CHARACTERISTICS.  77 

How  readily  lie  elicited  tlie  fatal  admission  that  the 
currency  in  use  as  legal  tender  among  the  Jews  was 
of  Eoman  coinage!  And  this  granted,  how  unan- 
swerable the  conclusion  that  the  nation,  being  thus 
confessedly  subject,  might  rightfully  be  laid  under 
tribute  !  The  consequent  duty  was  thus  put  beyond 
all  cavil. 

Again,  objective  allusion  or  illustration,  may  often 
be  employed  to  give  additional  vividness  to  the  ap- 
prehension of  truth,  and  consequently  increased  force 
to  the  resultant  law.  In  exemplification  of  this,  let 
us  refer  again  to  the  same  great  teacher.  Observe, 
how,  when  his  disciples  were  contending  for  an  idle 
supremacy,  he  adroitly  "  took  a  child  and  set  him  by 
him,"  and  then,  in  the  light  of  this  objective  lesson, 
proceeded  to  unfold  to  them,  and  to  enforce  upon 
them,  the  combined  laws  of  personal  humility,  mu- 
tual condescension,  and  child-like  obedience. 

"Without  further  exemplification  here,  which  indeed 
our  space  does  not  allow,  it  is  perhaps  sufficient  to 
refer  the  teacher  to  the  scripture  account  of  Christ's 
mission  generally,  as  affording  some  of  the  finest  in- 
stances on  record,  of  both  the  intellectual  and  moral 
application  of  this  method.  Did  his  life  possess  no 
higher  claim  for  diligent  and  reverential  study,  its 
value  as  affording  models  for  the  teacher,  so  sagacious 
and  authoritative,  might  well  commend  it  to  the  earn- 
est investigation  of  every  student  in  didactics. 

Before  leaving  this  topic,  let  one  other  thought  be 
carefully  impressed  upon  the  teacher's  mind,  that  is, 
that  while  he  is  to  avail  himself  of  the  objective  ten- 


78  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

dency  in  the  child's  mental  exercises,  he  must  guard 
against  perpetuating  it.  This  objectivity  is  a  primal 
condition  of  the  child's  mind ;  but  it  is  not  designed 
to  become  a  permanent  or  ultimate  state.  The  facts 
of  the  outward  world,  and  the  exercise  of  the  sense, 
are,  of  course,  necessary  to  the  development  of  the 
mind  and  to  the  uses  of  temporal  existence.  But 
there  are  higher  faculties  in  the  soul  than  the  sense  ; 
and  there  is  a  world  of  fact  within  the  thought,  more 
refined  and  subtle,  but  not  less  real,  than  the  sensible 
creation.  The  exploration  of  this  field  lays  the  high- 
est claim  upon  the  human  energies,  and  the  develop- 
ment of  those  faculties  only,  can  lead  the  soul  to  its 
highest  triumphs.  Hence,  in  all  objective  training, 
there  should  be  a  constant  endeavor  to  lead  the  mind 
from  the  sensible  to  the  abstract,  in  order  that  its 
growth  may  be  steadily  towards  a  profound  subjec- 
tivity, (if  we  may  so  speak,)  in  exercise  and  attain- 
ment. Objective  instrumentalities  must  be  kept 
rigorously  subordinate  as  a  temporary  means  to  be 
steadily  reduced  from  their  maximum  use  in  juvenile 
training,  to  their  minimum  employment  in  the  ma- 
turer  discipline  of  the  adult  mind. 

We  pass  from  this,  to  notice  the  third  characteristic 
of  the  child's  mental  exercises ;  namely,  spontaneity. 
Few  observing  minds  can  have  failed  to  discover  that 
rarely  does  the  child  think,  feel  or  purpose  under  the 
guidance  of  antecedent  reflection,  or  in  obedience  to 
deliberate  self-controlled  conviction.  Some  imme- 
diate object  or  incident  serves  as  an  occasion  for 
those  exercises,  and  determines  their  direction  -,  and 


RELATIVE   CHARACTERISTICS.  79 

then  comes  the  instantaneous  and  uncontrolled  im- 
pulse, and  arouses  the  faculties  to  action.  And  so 
generally  is  this  true  of  all  the  child's  activity,  that 
it  may  be  safely  affirmed  that  in  his  nature,  reflec- 
tion is  at  the  minimum,  spontaneity  at  the  maximum. 

As  a  necessary  consequence,  observation,  attention 
and  memory,  in  the  child,  will  be  found  subject  to 
important  modifications.  So  far  as  the  exercise  of 
those  faculties  is  casual  and  spontaneous,  it  will  be 
found  marked  by  a  not  unfrequently  singular  sharp- 
ness and  vigor.  Whatever  has  come  accidentally 
before  the  child's  mind,  or  at  least  in  the  natural 
track  of  his  unpremeditated  activity,  even  though 
utterly  unobserved  by  the  mature  looker-on,  generally 
produces  a,  somewhat  permanent  impression.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  whatever  is  brought  before  his 
mind  for  voluntary  and  controlled  observation,  atten- 
tion, or  retention,  is  subject  to  quite  the  opposite 
result.  It  will  be  seized  upon  by  the  observing 
spirit  with  less  avidity ;  its  construction  in  the  atten- 
tion will  be  more  vague  and  incomplete,  and  its  hold 
upon  the  memory  will  be  altogether  forced  and  tran- 
sitory. 

From  these  facts,  there  may  be  deduced  several 
laws  which  must  be  recognized  by  the  teacher  in  the 
government  of  the  school. 

And  here,  first,  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is  not  enough 
for  the  teacher  to  be  watchful  as  to  whatever  is  di- 
rectly set  before  the  pupil's  mind  in  the  ordering  of 
the  school.  It  is  necessary  for  him  to  exercise  great 
watchfulness  over  everything  that  may  appeal  inju- 


80  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

riously  to  this  sharp  thinking  spontaneity.  The  pecu- 
liar vividness  and  permanence  of  the  impressions 
produced  unexpectedly  under  its  auspices,  make  it 
imperative  that  objects  and  facts,  principles  and  ac- 
tions, that  may  create  false  impressions,  should  be 
zealously  sought  out  and  be  carefully  removed  or 
corrected.  It  is,  of  course,  not  possible  for  the  teacher 
to  anticipate  the  existence  or  counteract  the  influence 
of  all  of  these  occasions  of  evil  impressions,  for  it  is 
their  nature  to  exist  and  to  operate  unexpectedly. 
But  he  should  not  lack  the  will  to  be  watchful,  nor 
should  he  stint  his  endeavor  to  accomplish  all  that 
may  be  practicable. 

All  this  is  strongly  suggestive  of  what  has  already 
been  referred  to ;  the  importance  of  securing  in  all 
the  external  accommodations  of  the  school  a  predom- 
inance of  whatever  is  comfortable  and  attractive,  and 
hence,  naturally  productive  of  refined,  happy,  and 
grateful  impressions.  Not  less  suggestive  is  it  of  the 
necessity  of  securing  the  earliest  possible  correction 
of  such  character  and  example  in  the  leading  spirits 
in  the  school,  as  must  be  malevolent  in  both  their  un- 
seen and  their  outstanding  influence.  And  if  this, 
then  what  as  to  the  teacher's  own  manners  and  bear- 
ing, and  what  as  to  the  evident  temper  of  his  govern- 
ment ; — what  as  to  these,  other  than  that  the  same 
jealous  watch  should  be  kept  over  them  so  as  to  se- 
cure in  himself  an  example  of  whatsoever  things  are 
L >  vely  and  of  good  report  ?  In  the  second  place,  it  fol- 
lows from  the  laws  of  the  child's  exercises  as  sponta- 
neous, that  great  care  must  be  taken  in  presenting  to  liis 


RELATIVE  CHARACTERISTICS.  81 

mind,  matters  which  call  for  the  deliberate  and  some- 
what arbitrary  exercise  of  observation,  attention  and 
memory.  Always,  so  far  as  may  be,  they  should  be 
brought  forward  in  some  way  calculated  to  appeal  to 
his  feeling  of  interest.  And  if  that  be  to  any  degree 
impracticable,  they  should  be  announced  with  a  delib- 
erateness,  clearness,  and  positiveness  that  cannot 
fail  to  fix  the  attention  and  secure  their  thorough  ap- 
prehension. To  this  should  be  sometimes  added 
such  a  repetition  of  that  presentation  as  will  leave  no 
doubt  as  to  its  immediate  apprehension,  and  no  ex- 
cuse for  any  subsequent  slips  of  the  recollection. 
There  is  reason  to  fear  that  children,  through  the 
haste  or  carelessness  of  parents  and  teachers  in  this 
direction,  or,  perhaps,  through  their  too  ready  as- 
sumption of  the  child's  actual  reception  of  the  facts, 
are  sometimes  positively  made  transgressors,  and  are 
subjected  to  consequent  punishment,  when  the  al- 
leged fault  was  simply  an  induced  failure  of  the  in- 
tellect, and  not  at  all  a  willful  trespass  upon  the 
reason  and  the  conscience.  Let  it  be  observed,  how- 
ever, that  the  repetition  which  is  suggested  as  tending 
to  prevent  this  serious  error  just  alluded  to,  is  a  thor- 
oughly deliberate  and  pointed  repetition, — a  repeti- 
tion with  an  earnest  and  well-defined  purpose  in  it. 
Mere  idle  repetition,  that  which  is  ill-considered,  hasty, 
and  perhaps,  confused,  is  injurious.  So  far  from  fix- 
ing the  attention  upon  the  matter  presented,  its  only 
practical  effect  is  to  induce  inattention.  The  law 
hero,  is  the  law  of  the  school  in  everything  else  ;  what- 


32  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

ever  is  nofc  done  deliberately  and  to  a  definite  end, 
is  done  to  little  or  no  good  purpose. 

Another  of  the  characteristics  of  the  child's  mind 
bearing  upon  the  nature  of  the  school  government, 
is  irregularity  or  want  of  method.  Method  is  by  no 
means  a  common  trait  among  mankind  at  large.  Of 
the  two  faults,  ignorance  of  things  to  be  done,  and  ig- 
norance of  a  methodical  way  of  doing  them,  the  latter 
is  certainly  the  more  universal.  In  the  child,  we  dis- 
cover the  germ  of  this  prevailing  evil.  It  is  not 
strange  that  it  should  be  so.  It  is  the  natural  prod- 
uct of  the  objectivity  and  spontaneity  already  no- 
ticed. He  whose  thinking  is  determined  by  the  mere 
contingency  of  objective  occasion  for  thought,  and 
whose  mind  ever  follows  the  unsettled  track  of  his 
own  uncontrolled  spontaneity,  must  be  unmethodical. 
Method  is  a  subjective  accomplishment,  and  the  re- 
sult of  discipline.  It  must  be  based  upon  penetrating 
and  self -controlled  thought.  It  must  be  antedated  by 
analysis  and  classification.  These,  however,  are  ope- 
rations both  beyond  the  child's  capacity,  and  contrary 
to  his  undisciplined  nature. 

But  nothing  can  be  clearer  than  that  orderliness  is 
indispensable  to  the  harmonious  and  successful  opera- 
tion of  the  school.  Just  so  far  as  the  teacher  can 
secure  it,  just  so  far  he  facilitates  his  management, 
and  lightens  the  burden  of  discipline.  Quite  gene- 
rally too,  with  the  development  of  orderliness,  or  reg- 
ularity of  method  in  the  pupils  of  the  school,  there 
will  occur  the  simultaneous  development  of  easy  ac- 
quiescence in  the  system  of  control  established  by  the 


RELATIVE    CHARACTERISTICS.  83 

teacher,  and  spontaneous  conformity  to  its  move- 
ments. Nor  can  there  be  any  question  as  to  the 
truth  of  this,  so  long  as  common  experience  testifies 
that  it  is  the  wild,  impulsive,  unorderly  nature  that  is 
forever  unexpectedly  running  athwart  the  legitimate 
track  of  the  school  order,  and  introducing  some 
errant  clash  and  jar  into  its  otherwise  harmonious 
movement. 

Out  of  these  facts  grows  the  requisition  that  the 
whole  ordering  of  the  school  should,  both  directly  in 
its  methods  and  requirements,  and  indirectly  as  an 
example  and  an  influence,  tend  to  the  correction  of 
this  element  of  irregularity  and  disorder  in  the  child's 
mind.  Whatever  the  teacher  himself  does,  and  what- 
ever he  requires  the  child  to  do,  should  be  carefully 
sj^stematized,  so  that  both  the  pupil's  observation 
and  action  shall  lead  steadily  in  the  direction  of 
methodical  habits.  This,  both  the  immediate  claims 
of  the  school  government,  and  the  ultimate  wants  of 
the  pupil  clearly  demand. 

To  pass  from  these  more  general  characteristics  of 
the  child's  mind,  to  those  more  restricted,  we  may 
remark  that  in  the  intellect  proper,  his  conceptions 
and  judgments,  while  rapidly  formed,  are  apt  to  be 
vague  and  erroneous.  Prom  his  very  impulsiveness 
and  disinclination  to  severe  thought,  the  child  is  too 
ready  to  accept  statements  on  faith,  to  the  entire 
neglect  of  any  searclTafter  their  certainty,  and  of  any 
examination  of  the  details  involved.  For  similar  rea- 
sons, adopting  premises  hastily  and  with  little  ques- 
tion as  to  their  soundness,  it  is  quite  common  for  him, 


84  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

notwithstanding  he  draws  conclusions  with  curious 
directness,  to  reach  results  altogether  deceptive.  In 
short,  the  child's  intellect  is  ready  rather  than  strong ; 
acute  rather  than  comprehensive,  and  trustful  rather 
than  searching. 

Hence,  it  behooves  the  teacher,  in  the  government 
of  the  school,  to  see  to  it  that  every  principle  advanc- 
ed, every  regulation  proposed,  and  every  considera- 
tion urged,  is  made  thoroughly  explicit,  and  is  un- 
mistakably apprehended.  Equal  care  must  be  taken 
to  secure  that  the  pupil  is  not  misled  by  mistaken  in- 
ferences the  result  of  his  own  imperfect  procesess  of 
reasoning.  It  is  quite  possible  for  the  pupil  to  bo 
led  through  these  very  errors  and  misapprehensions, 
into  transgressions  of  rule  for  which  discipline  may 
be  adjudged  necessary,  when,  after  all,  the  teacher 
may  be  the  original  occasion  of  the  whole. 

These  principles  are  especially  applicable  to  the 
reason  in  its  apprehension  of  ultimate  truths  of  either 
beauty  or  virtue.  As  the  child's  notions  of  the  beau- 
tiful are  essentially  crude  and  barbaric,  so  also  are 
his  notions  of  rectitude.  The  gaudy  and  the  glitter- 
ing are  to  him,  the  beautiful,  more  often  than  the 
subdued,  the  natural,  the  harmonious.  So  also  are 
the  desirable  or  convenient  more  often  to  him,  the 
right,  than  the  just,  the  worthy,  and  the  benevolent. 
This  finds  ample  illustration  in  the  well-known  indefi- 
niteness  of  the  child's  ideas  as  to  the  right  of  privi- 
lege or  of  property.  Indeed,  generally  in  his  mind, 
the  rational  faculty  is  either  in  the  germ  or  but  feebly 


KELATIVE    CHARACTERISTICS.  85 

operative,  and,  hence,  left  to  itself,  it  is  by  no  means 
a  safe  guide  for  his  action. 

Hence,  we  are  inclined  to  regard  the  generalized 
principle,  "  Do  right,"  sometimes  laid  down  by  teach- 
ers as  the  sole  law  of  the  school,  as,  of  itself  insuffi- 
cient, deceptive  and  dangerous.  That  it  is  insuffi- 
cient, may  be  seen  from  the  fact  that  is  not  in  any 
proper  sense  a  law  for  the  school,  but  only  a  funda- 
mental principle,  the  basis  for  all  law.  Moreover,  it 
leaves  the  specific  applications,  which  are  practically 
the  law  for  the  pupil,  to  his  own  judgment  or  reason, 
both  of  which,  as  has  been  seen,  are  unreliable. 

That  it  is  deceptive,  may  be  seen  in  the  fact  that, 
instead  of  really  leaving  these  applications  to  be  de- 
termined by  the  pupil,  the  teacher  practically  reserves 
that  right  wholly  to  himself,  inasmuch  as  he  develops 
the  general  principle  into  specific  rules,  as  fast  as  he 
finds  occasion  in  the  pupil's  delinquencies  for  doing 
so.  In  this  light,  the  so-called  law  verges  closely 
upon  an  imposition,  since,  instead  of  being  the  sole 
law,  it  is  more  of  the  nature  of  a  temporary  device, 
and  furthermore,  ostensibly  endows  the  pupil  with  a 
prerogative  which  is  seeming  and  not  real.  Thus  in- 
sufficient and  deceptive,  it  needs  not  that  we  demon- 
strate the  danger  of  depending  upon  it. 

The  only  advantage  that  can  result  from  the  pro- 
posing of  this  principle  at  the  outset  axe,  first,  that  it 
enables  the  teacher  to  defer  the  promulgation  of  spe- 
cific rules,  until  circumstances  seem  to  present  a  natu- 
ral demand  for  them.  This  enables  the  government 
of  the  school  to  conform  itself  to  the  principle  of 


86  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

growth  or  development,  and  thus  to  adapt  itself  the 
better  to  the  unfolding  capacities  of  the  pupils,  and 
to  the  evident  wants  of  the  school.  And,  secondly, 
properly  set  forth,  it  makes  itself  as  a  general  law, 
appear  to  be  of  the  nature  of  a  reason  for  each  speci- 
fic rule;  indeed,  wisely  applied  by  the  teacher,  it 
becomes  demonstrative  of  the  rectitude  of  each  indi- 
vidual provision.  Hence,  it  should  be  proposed  only 
with  these  ends  in  view. 

Passing  now  to  the  sensibilities,  it  is  important  to 
notice  the  fact  that  in  the  child's  nature,  these,  while 
fluctuating  and  transitory  in  their  exercises,  are  yet 
peculiarly  acute.  How  slight  the  word  or  tone,  how 
seemingly  trivial  the  act  or  circumstance,  that  sad- 
dens the  young  face  and  fills  the  eyes  with  tears ! 
And  thus  it  should  be.  It  is  the  natural  product  of 
that  delicacy  of  feeling  which  is  yet  a  fresh  and  un- 
wasted  legacy  to  humanity,  from  the  lost  Eden  to 
which  the  child  is  so  much  nearer  than  the  man.  In 
his  normal  state,  the  child  must  be  a  creature  of 
much  sensibility.  If  he  is  not  found  to  be  such,  it 
may  be  depended  upon  that  his  sensibilities  have 
been  impaired  by  malconformation ;  or  they  have  been 
deadened  or  brutalized  by  bad  treatment. 

The  latter  is  the  more  sure  to  be  the  case,  from  the 
commonness  of  the  practice  of  abusing  children  for 
giving  vent  to  their  feelings.  Nothing  is  more  com- 
mon than  for  their  outburst  of  sorrow  to  be  made 
an  occasion  of  false  consolation,  or  of  ridicule  ;  or 
still  more  detestably,  of  angry  crimination.  Some- 
times this  abuse  is  visitod  upon  them  because  their 


BELATIVE    CHAEACTEEISTICS.  87 

outcries  are  productive  of  inconvenient  disturbance ; 
or  sometimes  because  they  create  apprehension  of 
censure ;  sometimes  even  out  of  pure  irritability,  or, 
possibly,  of  intrinsic  malevolence.  In  every  case,  it 
is  unnatural  and  inhuman. 

From  this  arises  a  natural  demand  that  the  govern- 
ment of  the  school,  while  just  and  firm,  should  always 
be  marked  by  a  sympathizing  spirit  and  much  gen- 
tleness of  manner.  Let  the  teacher  sedulously  avoid 
that  current  frigidity  and  folly  which  attempt  to  im- 
pose on  the  childish  conviction,  the  belief  that  the  ills 
lamented  are  unreal;  and  which  would  salve  the 
wounds  of  the  juvenile  sufferer  with  consolatory  false- 
hood or  pitiless  stoicism.  It  is  the  part  of  both  true 
courtesy  and  sincerity,  to  accept  fairly  the  child's 
trials  according  to  the  child's  estimation  of  them,  just 
indeed,  as  the  teacher  would  desire  his  own  afflictions 
to  be  entertained  in  the  apprehension  of  his  friends. 
Having  done  this,  let  him,  without  exaggerating  those 
ills,  or  weakly  humoring  them,  both  unfavorable  to 
the  development  of  true  patience  and  fortitude,  pro- 
ceed with  mingled  tenderness  and  tact  to  apply  the 
proper  remedy. 

In  all  such  cases,  the  legitimate  mode  of  reaching 
the  desired  end,  is  through  diversion  of  thought 
rather  than  suppression  of  feeling.  As  the  sensibili- 
ties were  reached  before  through  the  intellect,  so 
the  feelings,  being  the  after-growth  of  the  thought, 
must  be  reached  again  through  the  same  avenue. 
Let  the  teacher,  then,  first  enter  into  the  feelings  of 
the  child,  in  a  genuine  sympathy,  and  then  proceed 


88  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

adroitly  to  lead  the  attention  to  other  and  more 
pleasing  subjects.  Just  so  far  as  he  can  succeed  in 
effecting  this  transfer  of  the  thoughts,  (and  such  is 
the  child's  volatility  that  it  is  not  a  difficult  task  to  ac- 
complish,) he  will  succed  in  abating  the  feelings  which 
were  the  object  of  his  immediate  concern. 

In  effecting  this  result,  the  teacher  secures  a  two- 
fold gain.  It  is  something  to  have  soothed  the  feel- 
ings of  the  distressed  child ;  it  is  no  less  an  advantage 
to  have  enshrined  himself  in  the  child's  heart  as  a 
true  and  trusted  friend.  In  this  direction,  the  occur- 
rence of  these  youthful  trials  are,  if  rightly  improved, 
golden  opportunities  for  the  teacher.  Out  of  them, 
he  may  develop  the  sweetest  and  kindliest  regard  of 
the  pupil  for  himself,  and  a  genuine  and  effective  re- 
gard for  his  system  of  control.  Thus  employed,  they 
will  quite  invariably  prove  that,  in  gaining  the  true 
mastery  of  the  pupil  and  the  school,  an  ounce  of  sin- 
cere sympathy,  skillfully  employed,  is  worth  a  pound 
of  authoritative  discipline. 

In  this  connection,  it  is  also  worthy  of  remark,  that 
while  the  child's  sense  of  moral  obligation,  following 
in  the  wake  of  his  yet  unillumined  reason,  is  by  no 
means  ready  or  acute,  he  is,  nevertheless,  more  or 
less  sensitive  to  praise  or  blame.  Now,  it  is  not 
assumed  that  the  feelings  he  may  evince  in  this  direc- 
tion are  purely  the  product  of  his  moral  susceptibili- 
ties. They  are  more  likely  the  combined  product  of 
his  constitutional  sensitiveness,  and  his  insatiable 
craving  for  esteem  and  love.  Whatever  may  be  ac- 
cepted as  to  thoir  source,  they  are  certainly  a  fact  in 


RELATIVE   CHAEACTEEISTICS.  89 

tlie  child's  nature ;  and  they  possess  a  power  over  his 
conduct  which  cannot  but  make  them  an  important 
element  as  related  to  the  government  of  the  school. 

This  latter  feeling,  the  child's  love  of  esteem,  is 
peculiarly  deserving  of  notice  as  one  of  the  most 
deeply  rooted  in  his  nature.  Seeming  to  be  born  of 
his  instinctive  sense  of  inferiority  and  dependence, 
his  looking  and  longing  for  esteem  and  love,  are  like 
the  reaching  forth  of  the  apprehensive  spirit  after 
the  token  and  assurance  of  that  concern  in  its  behalf, 
among  the  higher  and  ruling  natures  around  it,  which 
may  serve  it  as  a  sure  ground  of  kindred  feeling  and 
peaceful  trust.  Imbedded  thus  in  the  very  instincts 
of  the  feeble  and  dependent  spirit,  it  will  be  found 
generally  very  tenacious  in  its  hold  upon  the  impulses, 
lingering  about  them  long  after  the  external  aspect 
has  been  case-hardened  by  neglect  or  abuse. 

That  there  are  many  children  in  our  schools  who 
appear  to  be  comparatively  insensible  to  praise  or 
blame,  and  who  appear  destitute  of  the  love  of 
esteem,  is  doubtless  true.  This,  however,  by  no  means 
invalidates  the  main  principle.  Such  cases  are  ab- 
normal in  their  character.  Some  of  them  are  very 
possibly  due  to  an  original  moral  obtuseness,  just  as 
there  are  cases  of  a  constitutional  stolidity  of  intellect. 
But  much  the  larger  proportion  are  solely  the  hard 
growth  of  unnatural  training  at  home, — training  in 
which  the  longing  for  love  has  been  mocked  with 
stony-hearted  coldness  and  neglect,  and  the  grateful 
emotions,  ready  to  be  warmed  into  life  by  the  genial 
breath  of  approval,  have  been  blighted  and  beaten 


90  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

down  by  the  blasts  of  ridicule,  censure  or  angry 
vituperation. 

The  influence  of  these  facts  should  be  to  impress 
upon  the  teacher  the  importance  of  guarding  the 
government  of  the  school  against  degenerating, 
through  the  predominance  of  ridicule  and  satire,  criti- 
cism and  censure,  into  a  mere  engine  for  depression. 
Rather  let  him  see  to  it  that  it  everywhere  evinces  a 
delicate  regard  for  the  finer  feelings,  a  watchful  desire 
to  discover  the  first  traces  of  true  merit,  a  hearty 
appreciation  of  the  feeblest  endeavor  to  do  well,  and 
a  cheerful  readiness  to  bestow  upon  the  humblest  and 
least  promising  claimant,  every  just  meed  of  encour- 
agement and  praise.  In  this  way,  it  is  possible  to 
make  the  government  of  the  school  a  living  and  effec- 
tive stimulus,  by  its  steady  appeal  to  the  better  aspi- 
rations of  the  child's  heart,  provoking  it  "to  love  and 
good  works." 

Especially  let  it  be  borne  in  mind,  that  this  system 
of  encouraging  appeal  to  the  love  of  approval  and 
esteem  is  pre-eminently  adapted  to  those  who  be- 
longing to  the  hardened  class  above  referred  to,  are 
seemingly  the  most  incorrigible.  This  is  so,  first,  be- 
cause of  the  inherent  power  of  that  principle  in  the 
human  heart,  of  which  society  every  day  furnishes 
the  most  striking  examples.  What  alone  has  ever 
surely  saved  the  drunkard?  The  clear,  sun-bright 
evidence  that  he  has  yet  a  hold  upon  some  one's 
esteem  and  confidence,  and  may  regain  that  of  others 
which  he  had  fancied  to  be  hopelessly  lost.  What 
alone  prevents  the  glad  redemption  of  the  pitiful  vie- 


RELATIVE    CHARACTERISTICS.  91 

tim  of  seductive  wiles  ?  The  crushing  consciousness 
that  a  villainous  proscription  by  a  pharisaical  virtue, 
has  cut  her  off  from  all  generous  regard  or  hope  of 
re-established  esteem  and  confidence.  Still  further, 
the  method  referred  to  is  the  best  for  the  more  vicious 
pupils,  because,  secondly,  it  is  so  entirely  opposite  to 
'their  experience  and  expectation,  that  it,  as  it  were, 
takes  them  unawares,  and  upon  the  side  of  their  na- 
ture least  fortified  against  approach,  and  therefore 
most  susceptible  to  influence.  The  truth  of  this  is 
amply  illustrated  in  the  history  of  every  reformatory 
effort  for  the  reclamation  of  abandoned  youth.  Kag- 
ged  schools,  schools  of  reform,  industrial  schools  and 
the  like,  have  everywhere  been  successful,  just  so  far 
as  they  have  skillfully  availed  themselves  of  the  child's 
desire  of  approval  and  love  of  esteem.  A  proper  ap- 
peal to  those  principles  has  in  it  the  true  magician's 
art ;  it  will  disenchant  and  restore  to  his  better  form 
the  enthralled  victim  of  demoniac  wiles. 

The  method  to  be  employed  in  applying  this  appro- 
batory stimulus  is  exceedingly  simple.  In  the  first 
place,  let  the  teacher  avail  himself  of  the  first  occa- 
sions, whether  real  or  only  seeming,  for  bestowing 
praise  and  evincing  confidence,  and  carefully  follow 
up  each  attained  success,  by  judicious  but  increas- 
ing demonstrations  of  that  character.  In  the  second 
place,  where,  from  the  extremity  of  the  case,  no 
occasion  seems  to  offer,  let  him  adroitly  create  one. 
This  he  may  do  by  politely  appealing  to  the  child's 
love  of  activity,  or  ambition  to  be  helpful  (a  powerful 
feeling  in  most  children),  for  some  incidental  but  os- 


92  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

tensibly  important  aid.  Here  is,  at  the  outset,  an  un- 
expected exhibition  of  confidence  which  may  at  first 
puzzle  the  pupil,  but  which  will  ultimately  and  the 
more  surely,  because  it  puzzles  him,  beguile  him  like  a 
fascination  into  the  bestowment  of  the  required  assist- 
ance. This  done,  the  way  is  open  for  a  kind  and 
deferential  acknowledgment  on  the  part  of  the  teacher. 
The  course  is  now  clear.  Carefully  repeat  the  pro- 
cess until  the  pupil  grows  into  the  feeling  that  he  is 
of  some  real  value.  This  effected,  you  may  openly 
and  confidentially  appeal  to  his  ambition  to  become 
more  useful  and  worthy.  The  utility  and  certain  efii- 
ciency  of  this  whole  process  might  easily  be  illus- 
trated by  specific  cases.  Space,  however,  does  not 
allow  their  introduction  here ;  and,  besides,  to  the 
minds  of  many  teachers,  they  will  occur  spon- 
taneously. 

Passing  from  this  discussion  of  points  bearing  on 
the  susceptibilities,  it  remains  for  us  to  notice  one 
characteristic  of  the  child's  voluntary  nature,  and  that 
is,  the  prevailing  fitfulness  of  his  purposes  ;  in  other 
words,  his  lack  of  true  persistence.  Resulting,  as 
this  does,  from  the  traits  already  noticed,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  regard  it  as  a  fault,  as  is  too  commonly 
done.  It  is,  however,  a  deficiency,  to  the  correction 
of  which  the  government  of  the  school  should  be 
carefully  adapted. 

And  this,  first,  because  unsteadiness,  or  lack  of 
persistence,  must  always  stand  in  the  way  of  the 
child's  best  development.  Indeed,  it  might  not  in- 
consistently be  urged  that  failure  to  develop  a  proper 


RELATIVE  CHARACTERISTICS.  93 

persistence  is  failure  to  develop  the  first  manly  ele- 
ment in  the  child's  mind, — failure  to  develop  in  him 
the  master-requisite  to  his  future  success  in  the  active 
walks  of  life.  This  conclusion,  all  the  current  max- 
ims of  men  relative  to  the  power  of  perseverance 
amply  sustain.  These  all  show  that  while  intelligence 
and  perseverance  are  both  necessary,  the  latter  bears 
the  palm  as,  single-handed,  the  better  champion. 

But,  further,  this  lack  of  persistence  tends  directly 
to  increase  the  demands  made  on  the  teacher's 
energies  in  the  control  of  the  school.  It  certainly 
stands  in  the  way  of  his  readiest  attainment  of  the 
proper  object  of  the  school.  "When,  for  example, 
the  pupil  recoils  from  the  determined  pursuit  of  his 
study,  he  will  either  fall  back  on  some  schoolmate 
for  aid,  which  at  once  tends  to  confusion,  or  he  must 
resort  to  the  teacher,  in  which  case,  the  latter  must 
undertake  the  pupil's  work,  as  his  substitute,  or  he 
must  task  himself  to  bring  up  the  flagging  energies 
of  the  little  straggler,  and  command  his  faltering 
spirit  again  to  the  persistent  attack.  Or,  if  in  another 
case,  the  pupil  fails  through  lack  of  steadiness,  as  is 
the  more  common  fact,  to  maintain  a  course  of  in- 
tended obedience,  either  the  teacher  must  give  him- 
self promptly  to  the  work  of  girding  up  the  relaxing 
purposes,  or  he  will  have  to  address  himself  to  the 
work  of  administering  discipline  in  the  correction  of 
overt  transgression. 

Hence,  it  follows,  that  while  the  government  of  the 
school  must  recognize  this  lack  of  persistence  in  the 
child  as  a   constitutional  weakness  for  which  in  all 


94  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

judgments,  due  allowance  is  to  be  made,  yet  it  must, 
in  all  its  example,  influence  and  requirement,  work 
steadily  for  the  counteraction  and  correction  of  the 
defect.  In  order  to  do  this,  it  must,  while  always 
both  properly  helpful  and  hopeful,  carefully  avoid 
any  relaxing  of  its  own  demands.  It  must  be  itself  a 
model  of  considerate  steadiness  and  inflexibility.  So 
too,  it  must  set  itself  persistently  against  all  vicarious 
performance  of  duty.  Duties  should  be  judiciously 
assigned,  but  once  thus  assigned,  by  mingled  encour- 
agement and  quiet  demand,  they  should  be  pressed 
steadily  home  upon  the  pupil  for  his  sole  and  un- 
flinching performance. 

The  failure  to  do  this,  we  believe  to  be  a  common 
vice  in  the  government  of  our  schools.  The  conse- 
quence is  that  no  true  foundation  is  laid  in  the  will, 
for  steady  and  thorough  scolarship  in  the  pupil's  sub- 
sequent educational  course,  or  for  manly  decision  and 
persistence  in  Ins  after  business  career.  And  so  we 
find  perpetuated  throughout  the  community,  a  fitful- 
ness  of  purpose,  an  unsteadiness  in  application,  and 
an  entire  uncertainty  as  to  the  persevering  attainment 
of  proposed  ends,  which  necessitate  constant  fluctua- 
tion in  the  currents  of  society,  and  ever  recurring 
personal  failure  and  disaster. 

This  lack  of  persistence  is,  we  fear,  constantly  en- 
couraged by  the  methods  of  instruction  becoming 
every  day  more  prevalent.  No  thoughtful  educator 
can  have  failed  to  observe  that  the  entire  tendency  of 
our  assumed  improvement  in  teaching  is  to  simplify 
books,  to  elaborato  all  the  processes  of  reasoning  for 


RELATIVE    CHARACTERISTICS.  95 

the  pupil,  and  to  made  the  teacher  more  minutely 
helpful.  In  short,  we  are  practically  running  into  a 
system  of  study  made  easy.  Now  while  it  is  clear 
that  all  the  difficulty  attending  the  work  of  learning, 
which  grows  out  of  preposterous  or  ill-adapted  requi- 
sition, and  needless  obscurity  or  complexity  in  the 
presentation  of  truth,  should  be  fully  obviated,  it  is 
to  be  doubted  whether  that  simplicity  or  helpfulness, 
which  relieves  the  pupil  from  close  application,  earn- 
est thinking,  and  resolute  self-assistance,  is  anything 
less  than  a  positive  evil.  There  is  every  reason  to 
believe  that,  while  the  youth  who  emerge  from  our 
schools  may  know  more,  and  may  be  more  sharp  and 
confident  than  those  of  the  former  generation,  they 
will  lack  that  power  of  persistent  application,  of  in- 
dependent thought,  and  thorough  self-reliance,  which 
are  only  to  be  developed  under  the  seemingly  hard 
but  yet  salutary  discipline  of  a  system  which  compels 
the  pupil  to  do  for  himself,  instead  of  leading  others 
to  do  for  him.  Not  that  which  is  the  easiest  and 
most  agreeable,  is  always  the  wisest  or  the  best. 

In  this  connection,  a  grave  question  arises  as  to 
the  influence  of  a  too  exclusive  use  of  the  "  Object 
System,"  so  prominently,  of  late,  set  forth  before  the 
public.  Involving  as  it  does  an  almost  const mt  pres- 
ence and  prominence  of  the  teacher  as  the  author  of 
the  derived  knowledge,  how  can  it  other  than  insensi- 
bly and  surely  lead  the  child  into  utter  obliviousness 
of  his  own  independent  acquisitive  power  and  purely 
individual  duty  ?  Always  flinging  around  his  attain- 
ment of  the  conveyed  knowledge,  the   halo  of  the 


96  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

teacher's  presence,  interest,  and  attractive  skill,  how 
can  it  do  other  than  envelop  his  solitary  and  unaided 
application,  with  a  sadly  contrasted  cloud  of  dulness 
and  uninterest?  Our  own  observation  leads  us  to 
the  almost  inevitable  conviction  that  pupils  who  have 
been,  to  any  great  extent,  trained  upon  this  exclusive 
method,  may  really  be  quite  acute  and  observing 
as  to  whatever  appeals  to  the  senses,  or  comes  through 
some  living  source  of  presentation,  but  will,  when 
thrown  upon  books  and  their  own  powers  of  reflec- 
tion, be  found  painfully  lacking  in  capacity  for  sober 
and  persistent  self-application. 

Turning  the  attention  now  to  those  physical  char- 
acteristics which  the  government  of  the  school  must 
recognize  in  the  child,  and  to  which  it  must  adapt  its 
management  and  discipline,  we  find  two  that  require 
at  least  a  brief  notice. 

It  needs  but  little  observation  to  show  that  in  the 
child,  while  there  is  a  lack  of  enduring  strength,  there 
is  a  high  degree  of  physical  activity ;  in  fact,  in  pro- 
portion to  his  real  power,  his  physical  activity  is  at 
the  maximum.  So  marked  is  this  peculiarity,  that  it 
may  not  inaptly  be  styled  the  leading  characteristic 
of  his  bodily  nature,  and  the  symbol  of  its  proper 
conformation  and  perfect  health. 

This  activity  may  be  traced  to  two  sources,  the 
mental  activity  of  which  we  have  before  spoken,  and 
the  superabundant  vitality  bestowed  upon  the  youth- 
ful organism.  Necessarily,  the  restless  objectivity  of 
the  child's  mind  must  call  for  a  constant  employment 
of  his  physical  powers  in  ministering  to  the  wants  of 


RELATIVE    CHARACTERISTICS.  97 

his  intellect.  Then,  too,  the  child,  instead  of  holding 
the  physical  powers  in  abeyance  in  his  thinking,  from 
his  very  impulsiveness,  commands  them  into  the  ser- 
vice of  his  thoughts,  as  vehicles  of  expression.  Hence, 
we  might  almost  say,  he  thinks  with  his  whole  body. 
It  is  thus  that  the  child  is  naturally  a  pantomimist. 

The  more  important  aspect  of  its  origin,  however, 
is  found  in  excess  of  vitality  as  subservient  to  bodily 
growth.  Necessarily,  as  the  child's  frame  must  be  a 
growing  one,  there  must  be  in  all  its  organic  elements 
a  vital  energy  more  than  adequate  to  the  claims  of 
mere  sustentation.  There  must  be  in  them  a  power 
capable  of  adding  to  what  is,  that  which  is  to  be,  and 
so,  adequate  to  the  building  up  of  the  child  into  the 
man.  And  as  this  requires  not  only  accumulation, 
but  a  growing  assimilation,  compactness  and  hardi- 
hood, there  must  also  be  the  abundant  exercise  of  all 
the  maturity  and  power  already  attained.  Nutrition 
adds,  but  exercise  adjusts  and  establishes.  Hence, 
exercise  is  one  of  the  ruling  instincts  of  the  child. 
However  much  inconvenience,  then,  this  activity  may 
occasion  to  the  teacher,  it  is  idle  for  him  to  either 
disregard  it  or  quarrel  with  it.  It  is  a  fixed  fact  in 
the  child's  nature,  and  must  be  provided  for. 

Hence,  in  his  management  of  the  school,  the  teacher 
must  see  that  adequate  provision  is  made  for  this 
physical  want.  He  should,  as  far  as  he  can,  have  a 
care  that  the  confinement  of  the  pupils  during  the 
daily  sessions  is  not  so  lengthy  or  rigid  as  to  produce 
a  languor  and  exhaustion  from  which  they  do  not 
readily  recover.     In  the  case  of  the  younger  class  of 

5 


98  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

pupils  who  are  not  able  to  study,  those  of  a  feebler 
class  whose  tendency  is  to  morbid  inactivity,  and 
those  who  are  constitutionally  over  restless  and  ac- 
tive, he  should  strive  to  make  especial  provision. 
What  these  need,  however,  is  not  so  much  specific 
artificial  exercise,  as  release  from  idle  confinement, 
and  opportunity  for  natural  amusement.  With  re- 
gard, then,  to  all  his  pupils,  the  teacher's  manage- 
ment must  be  governed  by  the  general  principle  that, 
while  the  child's  physical  nature  must  experience 
some  natural  inconvenience  from  the  necessary  con- 
finement and  restraint  of  the  school-room,  his  bodily 
health  and  development  must  not  be  made  to  suffer 
by  allowing  that  confinement  and  restraint  to  be  un- 
duly extended  or  severe. 

Beyond  this,  no  fixed  or  invariable  rule  is  possible. 
For  example,  in  the  rural  districts,  where  the  freedom 
of  nature  is  enjoyed,  and  people  are  brought  up  to 
wholesome  industry,  school  children  rarely  suffer  for 
want  of  exercise.  It  is  abundantly  supplied  by  their 
home  amusements  and  avocations,  their  journeys  to 
and  from  school,  and  the  recesses  customarily  allow- 
ed them  during  the  daily  sessions.  But  in  the  case 
of  the  children  in  the  schools  of  our  larger  towns 
and  cities,  whose  opportunities  for  natural,  open  air 
amusement  and  development  are  more  restricted, 
greater  attention  must  be  given  to  the  matter  of  arti- 
ficial exercise.  But  whatever  may  be  the  locality, 
school,  or  class  of  children,  the  teacher  must,  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  discriminate  for  himself  as  to 
the  time,   quantity,  or  quality  of  the  exercise.     No 


RELATIVE   CHARACTERISTICS.  99 

specific  rules  can  be  given  him.  His  guide  under  the 
general  law  indicated  above  must  be  simply  sound 
common  sense. 

The  reference,  which  has  just  been  made  to  artifi- 
cial exercise,  suggests  the  importance  of  raising  some 
question  as  to  the  utility  of  gymnastics.  And  this 
the  more  particularly,  because,  reacting  from  our 
former  complete  neglect  of  physical  culture,  there  is 
among  our  educators,  a  growing  tendency  to  swing 
to  the  extreme  of  making  this  species  of  artificial  ex- 
ercise everything.  That  gymnastics,  like  military 
drill,  have  their  place  and  utility,  it  is  useless  to 
doubt.  For  example,  given  a  class  of  pupils  who  have 
been  trained  in  habits  of  physical  indolence  and  inac- 
tivity ;  one  precluded  by  the  false  feminine  usages  of 
society  from  active  out-door  pursuits  or  amusements ; 
or  one,  by  absorption  in  study,  made  oblivious  of  the 
physical  wants, — given  either  of  these  classes,  and  an 
established  order  of  gymnastic  exercises  is  probably 
the  only  thing  that  can  effectively  supply  the  defi- 
ciency. Here,  their  use  may  be  set  down  as  a  neces- 
sity ;  for,  where  natural  means  fail  or  are  foolishly 
discarded,  a  resort  to  those  which  are  artificial  is 
inevitable. 

But  from  this,  it  is  quite  apparent  that  the  field 
within  which  gymnastics  as  an  established  mode  of 
exercise  and  culture  are  applicable,  is  restricted.  In 
the  case  of  the  pupils  in  our  country  schools,  who 
enjoy  the  facilities  for  physical  activity  and  develop- 
ment, afforded  by  rural  life  and  industrious  habits, 
and  even  in  that  of  the  children  of  the   laboring 


100  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

classes  of  our  larger  towns  and  cities,  who,  when  not 
industriously  employed,  enjoy  the  wild  freedom  of 
the  streets, — in  the  case  of  both  these  classes  gym- 
nastics are  practically  superfluous.  What  need  of 
staves,  or  rings,  or  dumb-bells,  or  Indian  clubs,  to  the 
young  "  sans  culotte"  of  the  streets  and  alleys,  or  to 
the  farmer-boy,  who,  in  addition  to  the  games  of  the 
recess  and  noon-spell,  has  his  mile  walk  in  going  to 
and  from  school,  and  his  "  chores  to  do"  morning  and 
night  at  home  ? 

This,  however,  is  not  the  limit  of  their  restriction. 
In  the  case  of  young  children,  their  application  is 
little  other  than  absurd.     And  this  because,  with  a 

"  Vaulting  ambition  which  o'erleaps  itself," 

it  claims  to  be  a  wisdom  above  nature.  Nature  has 
indicated  with  unmistakable  clearness,  the  means  by 
which  the  young  child  is  to  secure  the  physical  ac- 
tivity requisite  to  a  proper  development  of  its  bodily 
powers.  Its  own  spontaneous  vivacity,  its  own  rest- 
less curiosity,  its  own  ever-ready  imitation  of  the 
movements  of  men,  its  own  insatiable  love  of  asso- 
ciated sports, — these  are  nature's  occasions  for  exer- 
cise. Through  the  activity  thus  secured,  she  has 
provided  for  them  a  means  of  physical  development 
more  accessible,  more  varied,  more  extensive,  more 
practical,  more  completely  pervaded  by  an  intelligent 
interest,  and  to  the  child,  every  way  more  delight- 
some. To  all  this  class,  formal  gymnastics  are  a 
forced  and  unnatural  work.  Their  simple  appearance 
under  its  processes  is  a  continual   protest  against 


BELATIVE    CHARACTEEISTICS.  j  ;'    ,  J^l* 

these  factitious  devices.  Their  difficulty  in  effecting 
accurate  movements,  tlieir  strained  and  anxious  look 
of  attention,  and  tlieir  lack  of  hilarious  interest,  show 
that  nature's  law  for  the  child's  exercise  is  spon- 
taneous and  unconscious  activity.  Now,  if  the  indi- 
cations of  nature  are  worth  anything,  (and  the  attempt 
of  some  modem  educators  is  to  make  them  para- 
mount,) this  is  the  very  field  where  they  are  most 
clear  and  decisive. 

Beyond  this,  we  question  whether  these  principles 
should  not  be  applied  to  another  class  to  whom  the 
modern  gymnast  holds  out  his  exercises  as  a  desidera- 
tum ;  we  mean  to  our  incipient  and  precociously  de- 
veloped young  ladies.  Give  them  open  grounds,  a 
common-sense  attire — one  adapted  to  both  activity 
and  cleanliness — full  liberty  of  action,  and  the  choice 
games  of  their  brothers,  and  we  verily  believe  nature 
would  soon  evince  the  superiority  of  her  modes  over 
all  systems  of  artificial  training.  Put  into  the  girl's 
hand  the  hoop  and  stick  instead  of  the  staff,  the  ball 
and  bat  instead  of  the  dumb-bells ;  let  her  run  and 
jump  instead  of  striding  extravagantly  by  rule,  in 
prescribed  dirctions ;  get  her  enlisted  in  "  hide  and 
seek,"  "prisoner's  base,"  or  "I  spy,"  instead  of  twist- 
ing and  twirling  herself  in  unimaginable  curves  and 
spirals,  and  depend  upon  it,  the  physical  development 
will  not  be  found  lingering  like  "  a  laggard  in  a  lady's 
chamber,"  but  will  speedily  show  itself  foremost  in 
the  field.  The  only  difficulty  in  the  way  is  this ; 
gymnastics  are  fashionable  ;  games  for  girls,  vulgar ! 

It  is,  perhaps,  not  improper  that  some  reference 


102  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

should  here  be  made  to  military  drill  as  a  means  of 
physical  culture,  since,  in  the  minds  of  many  educa- 
tors, it  has  come  to  hold  an  important  place.  Of  this 
we  think  it  may  be  said,  that,  whenever  it  is  applica- 
ble, it  has  its  advantages,  and  is,  in  some  respects, 
superior  to  mere  gymnastics.  In  the  first  place,  it 
has  that  moral  superiority  which  is  a  cardinal  virtue 
in  any  exercise ;  namely,  a  recognized  end  beyond 
itself,  and  beyond  that  of  mere  bodily  development. 
The  influence  of  this  to  create  a  sustained  and  sus- 
taining interest,  and  to  dignify  its  whole  routine,  is 
unmistakable.  Beyond  this,  it  is  impossible  for  it  to 
run  into  mere  conceits  or  absurd  and  repulsive  exag- 
gerations in  movement.  Hence,  also,  its  influence  on 
the  mien  or*  carriage  generally,  is  more  manly  and  en- 
nobling, than  it  is  possible  for  that  of  gymnastics, 
with  its  larger  license  and  purely  material  ends,  to  be. 
Lastly,  its  power  to  establish  habits  of  implicit  obedi- 
ence is  necessarily  greater,  inasmuch  as  that  obedi- 
ence is  not  merely  enforced  by  the  present  command, 
"but  is  also  fixed  by  all  the  associated  ideas  of  the  sub- 
lime art  to  which  it  is  subordinate,  and  in  which  that 
obedience  is  seen  to  be  a  beauty  and  a  power.  But, 
as  was  suggested,  the  application  of  military  drill  is 
limited,  for  it  requires  numbers,  a  certain  degree  of 
maturity,  and  is  altogether  a  masculine  exercise. 

The  general  inference  to  be  drawn  from  these  facts 
is,  that  while  gymnastics  may  be  employed  where 
they  are  adapted,  more  attention  should  be  given  by 
teachers  to  the  natural  means  of  exercise  enjoyed  by 
their  pupils.     Hence,  the  teacher  should  recognize  it 


RELATIVE   CHARACTERISTICS.  103 

as  one  of  liis  duties,  not  only  to  provide  proper  and 
sufficient  occasions  for  relaxation  and  amusement, 
but  also  to  personally  oversee  the  out-door-  or  play- 
house sports  (for  every  school  should  have  its  play- 
house) of  his  pupils.  He  should  do  this,  in  order 
that  he  may  influence  them  in  the  choice  of  their 
games,  advise  with  them  as  to  the  conduct  of  those 
games,  secure  to  all  a  proper  participation,  guard  any 
against  excess,  or  exposure,  or  serious  accident,  and 
provide  against  the  occurrence  of  injustice  or  angry 
contention.  We  believe  that  the  common  neglect  to 
perform  this  supervisory  service  is  a  great  mistake 
both  as  to  duty  and  policy.  Not  only  do  physical 
evils  result  from  it,  but  not  unfrequently  moral  com- 
plications arise,  which  affect  the  harmony  of  the 
school,  and,  in  the  end,  severely  tax  its  government. 

Returning  from  this  somewhat  divergent  discussion, 
to  the  child's  physical  characteristics,  it  is  important 
to  notice  that,  even  when  healthy  or  stoutly  built,  the 
child's  frame  is  not  mature  or  well  knit,  and  that,  in 
the  majority  of  cases,  it  is  even. slender  or  positively 
feeble.  It  is  consequently  not  at  all  adapted  to  ex- 
cessive physical  effort,  or  to  rough  and  violent  usage. 
Hence,  where  either  of  these  evils  is  allowed,  serious 
mischances  may  not  only  result,  but  must  rather  be 
expected. 

This,  it  will  at  once  be  seen,  enforces  the  duty  just 
suggested, — that  of  carefully  supervising  the  sports 
of  the  pupils.  It  renders  it  equally  imperative  upon 
the  teacher  to  be  watchful  against  roughness  or  sud- 
den  violence  in    the   administration    of    discipline. 


104  SCHOOL  GOVEI1NMEOT. 

Nothing  is,  however,  here  determined  as  to  the  ques- 
tion of  corporal  punishment.  It  is  only  affirmed  that, 
if  it  be  accepted  as  legitimate,  it  should  be  adminis- 
tered in  such  ways  as  will  not  endanger  the  child's 
frame  as  yet  immature  or  slender.  No  sudden  and 
violent  jerking  of  the  pupil  or  whirling  him  about  the 
room  should  be  tolerated.  Either  may  easily  result 
in  the  dislocation  of  some  joint,  the  fracture  of  some 
of  the  small  bones  of  the  limbs,  or  in  the  infliction  of 
some  injury  to  the  spine,  ultimately  producing  weak- 
ness in  the  back.  Nor  should  any  heavy  implements 
ever  be  employed  in  inflicting  blows  upon  the  child ; 
and,  above  all,  no  blows  should  ever  be  inflicted  upon 
any  part  which,  from  its  direct  connection  with  the 
nervous  centres,  must  be  dangerously  sensitive  to  any 
severe  shock  or  contusion.  All  such  treatment  of 
the  pupil  is  undignified  and  brutaL  It  is  simply  the 
outbreak  of  passionate  unreason.     It  is  not  discipline. 

Having  thus  somewhat  fully  discussed  the  indivi- 
dual characteristics  of  the  child's  nature,  as  subject 
to  the  government  of  the  school,  we  have  to  turn  the 
attention  to  those  which  are  general,  and  contingent 
on  the  constitution  of  the  school.  These  traits,  unlike 
the  preceding,  must  mark  the  many  rather  than  the 
few,  and,  hence,  require  the  children  in  the  school  to 
be  taken  into  view  as  a  body. 

Here,  then,  it  must  be  observed  that,  necessarily  in 
the  great  majority  of  our  public  schools,  the  children 
must  be  of  both  sexes.  Even  were  it  the  better  course 
to  separate  the  sexes,  which  admits  of  question,  in 
the  larger  number  of  cases  it  would  be  impracticable. 


RELATIVE    CHAEACTEEISTICS.  105 

Hence,  in  these  schools,  boys  and  girls  must  be 
taught  and  trained  together;  and  the  teacher  who 
would  govern  justly  or  most  successfully,  must  re- 
cognize this  necessity,  and  adapt  his  government 
accordingly. 

But  to  do  this,  he  must  keep  in  mind  the  fact  that 
there  are  distinctions  in  the  character  of  the  two, 
which  render  a  common  adaptation  insufficient. 
There  are  specific  traits  in  each,  which  require  speci- 
fic modifications.  In  the  earliest  or  comparatively 
infantile  period,  the  divergence  in  these  traits  is  less 
marked,  and  a  common  method  will  avail  equally  for 
both  boys  and  girls.  But  as  they  advance  to  child- 
hood, the  divergence  is  marked,  and  demands  dis- 
crimination. For  example,  the  boy's  nature  responds 
more  readily  to  appeals  made  to  his  manly  ambition ; 
the  girl  is  more  sensitively  alive  to  personal  appre- 
ciation and  love.  The  boy  will  better  bear  a  frank 
and  somewhat  bluff  manner ;  the  girl  instinctively 
craves  an  approach  marked  by  the  sympathizing  look, 
the  gentle  word,  and  the  kind  caress. 

And  these  influences  grow  severally  stronger  as  the 
two  advance  to  the  keener  self-appreciation  of  youth  ; 
for  both  then  comprehend  more  clearly  the  import 
of  the  teacher's  bearing  toward  them.  The  boy  dis- 
covers in  it  the  distinct  and  generous  recognition  of 
his  manhood  ;  and  the  girl  feels  in  its  fine  courtesy 
and  considerate  regard,  the  first  dawn  of  the  homage 
her  womanhood  may  always  claim  from  the  true  man. 

It  is  quite  possible  also  for  these  means  of  influ- 
ence to  become  of  the  first  importance,  since,  with 


K06  SCHOOL   GOVERNMENT. 

growth  in  years,  the  force  of  mere  authority  over  the 
mind  diminishes.  Hence,  the  feelings  just  indicated 
in  the  boy  or  girl,  may  come  to  be  the  only  available 
sources  of  control.  Happy,  then,  -will  be  the  teacher 
who  has  fixed  himself  in  the  hearts  of  both,  as  a  gen- 
erous and  appreciative  friend, — in  that  of  the  boy,  by 
a  hearty  confidence  in  his  trustfulness,  and  pride  in 
his  manly  energy ;  and  in  that  of  the  girl,  by  a  re- 
fined and  chivalric  attention  and  esteem. 

A  fact,  by  no  means  to  be  overlooked  here,  is  this ; 
that  in  the  exercise  of  this  influence,  a  contrast  of 
sexes  between  the  teacher  and  pupil,  reduplicates  its 
power.  Hence,  often,  a  boy,  who  would  be  quite  in- 
sensible to  the  confidence  or  praise  of  a  man,  will  be 
completely  taken  captive  by  the  same  means  skill- 
fully employed  by  a  genial  and  attractive  woman ; 
and,  contrariwise,  a  girl,  whose  supreme  delight  would 
be  to  contemn  and  caricature  a  teacher  of  her  own 
sex,  will  evince  a  most  considerate  and  obedient  re- 
gard for  a  preceptor  who  gives  her,  by  his  tact  and 
courtesy,  the  always  pleasing  assurance  that  he  both 
understands  and  appreciates  her  character.  Hence, 
it  is  seriously  to  be  questioned,  whether  a  grave  mis- 
take is  not  made  in  our  boys'  schools,  by  employing 
tutors  exclusively,  and  in  our  female  seminaries,  the 
corresponding  one  of  placing  the  pupils  almost  wholly 
under  the  instruction  and  control  of  lady  teachers. 
The  natural  tendency.of  this  course,  we  believe  to  be, 
the  perpetuating  in  the  former,  of  rough  manners  and 
unamiable  passions ;  and  in  the  latter,  the  thorough 
consummation  of  boarding-school  diablerie. 


RELATIVE   CHARACTERISTICS.  107 

But  we  pass,  in  conclusion,  to  notice  the  hetero- 
geneousness  of  the  school,  as  giving  rise  to  contingent 
traits  of  character,  that  bear  a  vital  relation  to  the 
government.  As  our  schools  are  constituted,  it  is 
well  known  the  pupils  must  be  marked  by  the  great- 
est possible  diversity  of  age,  constitution,  tempera- 
ment, character,  social  condition,  and  antecedent 
training.  Some  are  hardly  past  sheer  infancy  ;  while 
others  are  verging  upon  manhood  and  womanhood. 
Some  are  slender,  even  to  helplessness ;  and  others 
are  hardy  and  domineering.  Some  are  sensitive ; 
while  others  are  rough  and  unfeeling.  Some  are 
ready  and  versatile ;  and  others  slow  and  even  pitia- 
bly obtuse.  Some  are  burdened  with  conscious 
poverty ;  others  are  full  of  pride  of  position.  Some 
have  been  humored,  and  perhaps  enfeebled,  by 
over  indulgence ;  while  others  have  been  hardened 
and  almost  imbruted  by  passionate  and  unnatural 
abuse.  And  between  these  various  extremes,  the  in- 
dividual character  may  run  through  a  whole  gamut 
of  the  most  perplexing  gradation. 

Now,  it  is  quite  clear  that  no  government  that  does 
not  in  some  way,  and  to  a  good  degree,  reach  these 
differences,  can  be  either  just,  merciful,  or  effective. 
And,  yet,  it  must  be  quite  impracticable  to  frame  a 
government  that  shall  in  its  organic  structure  be  able 
to  effect  this  object.  A  surface  of  collective  charac- 
ter so  tortuous  in  its  corrugations  can  not  easily  find 
any  organic  whole  that  will  readily  touch  it  at  all 
points.  To  endeavor  then  to  secure  adaptation  by 
specific  .provisions  would  result  in  such  multiplication 


108  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

of  details  as  would  destroy  all  simplicity,  intelligibil- 
ity and  effectiveness. 

The  great  want  can  then  be  met  only  by  the  appli- 
cation, under  the  teacher's  absolute  prerogative,  of 
the  one  principle  of  authoritative  discrimination  in 
the  application  of  either  requisition  or  discipline.  In 
dealing  with  the  individual  pupil,  as  comprehended 
in  his  condition  and  character  by  the  teacher,  the 
various  provisions  of  his  government  must  be  fear- 
lessly suspended  or  modified  according  to  the  case, 
so  as  to  make  the  pressure,  as  far  as  may  be,  practi- 
cally equal.  Hence,  from  the  beginning,  the  teacher 
should  explicitly  avow  his  right  and  his  determina- 
tion to  do  this ;  and  the  school  should  be  made  to  see 
and  feel,  not  perhaps  the  justness  of  each  specific  ap- 
plication, that  must  rest  on  the  teacher's  simple  au- 
thority, but  that  of  the  general  principle. 

Nor  should  such  discrimination  be  charged  as  par- 
tiality. While  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  school  should  be  comprehensive,  that 
is,  that  it  should  be  a  government  for  the  whole,  and 
not  for  a  part  to  the  detriment  of  the  whole,  nothing 
can  be  clearer  than  that  to  neglect  or  refuse  to  dis- 
criminate in  behalf  of  any  part  according  to  its  natu- 
ral claims,  whenever  that  can  be  done  without  injury 
to  the  whole,  is  to  dispense  with  both  adaptation  and 
justice,  and  make  the  government  the  iron  engine  of 
blind  theory  and  arbitrary  will.  Hence,  the  teacher 
who  exhibits  a  deference  or  regard  for  a  thoroughly 
good  pupil,  which  he  would  not  evince  toward  a  vicious 
and  disobedient  member  of  the  school ;  who  ex-tends  a 


RELATIVE    CHARACTERISTICS.  109 

lenity  to  a  feeble  and  uncared-for  child,  which  he 
withholds  from  one  robust,  or  possessed  of  ample  ad- 
vantages; who  bestows  a  painstaking  kindness  and 
labor  upon  the  dull,  the  timid,  or  the  easily  depressed, 
which  he  denies  to  the  ready,  the  resolute  or  the  for- 
ward ;  who  allows  privileges  to  the  infantile  members 
of  his  flock,  which  he  refuses  to  grant  to  the  older 
ones ;  who,  in  a  hundred  such  ways,  while  planning 
for  the  whole,  discriminates  for  the  benefit  of  the 
parts ; — such  a  teacher  is  not  partial ;  he  is  simply 
sensible  and  just.  Partiality  is  discriminating  or 
showing  favor  without,  or  against,  just  reasons.  But 
discriminating  or  showing  favor  for  wise  and  suffi- 
cient reasons,  although  often  thus  stigmatized,  is  no 
partiality ;  it  is  rectitude.  Let  the  teacher,  then,  see 
to  it  that  his  government  is  neither  from  ignorance  nor 
fear,  undiscriminating ;  nor  from  blind  prepossessions 
or  prejudices,  simply  partial. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

GENERAL    ELEMENTS  OF  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT    IN  ITSELF 
CONSIDERED. 

Main  theme  resumed — General  elements  classified,  as  Order  and  Disci- 
pline— Necessity  for  the  two,  common — Order  defined  and  classified,  as 
Arrangement  and  Management — Arrangement  defined — Characteristics 
of  arrangement — Simplicity  necessary — Definiteness  considered — Rules  a 
necessity — School,  mechanical  as  well  as  moral— System  important— 
Secures  harmony — Secures  thoroughness — System  liable  to  abuse — 
Must  be  practical — Specific  applications  of  arrangement — To  juvenile 
class  exercises — To  outside  study — To  recesses — Management  defined 
— Its  characteristics — Promptness — Evils  of  tardiness— Causes  loss  of 
time  and  confusion — Promptness  induces  general  punctuality — Steadif 
ness — Fluctuation  a  prevailing  evil— Steadiness  produces  respect — 
Creates  faith — Cultivates  popular  stability — Earnestness — Promotes 
proper  confidence  of  manner — Creates  enthusiasm — Geniality — Pleas- 
ure as  well  as  profit  of  the  pupil  to  be  studied — Importance  of 
sympathy — Induces  a  loving  regard — Quietness — Not  mere  sluggish 
unconcern — Quietness  favors  intelligent  apprehension  —  Tends  to 
quiet  order  in  the  school — Favors  proper  reticence  in  the  teacher — 
Induces  higher  respect  for  the  teacher — Good  management  promotive 
of  general  order — Reduces  the  need  for  discipline. 

The  preceding  topics,  which  were  in  some  sense 
general  and  preparatory,  have  been  already  seen  to 
be  of  vital  importance.  As  possessing  such  impor- 
tance, and  yet,  as  too  generally  securing  only  a  pass- 
ing notico,  it  was  judged  proper  to  discuss  them  with 
a  good  degree  of  thoroughness.  In  doiug  that,  some 
points  belonging  to  the  main  subject  were,  of  neces- 
sity, anticipated,  and  that  at  the  risk  of  subsequent 
repetition.     Notwithstanding  that  fact,  they  will  bo 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  OKDEE.  Ill 

noticed  in  what  follows,  in  their  proper  place,  and 
according  to  the  just  demands  of  the  occasion.  This 
will  be  considered  as  fully  justified  by  the  too  com- 
mon neglect  of  them  ;  by  the  new  light  thrown  upon 
them  by  their  immediate  relations  ;  by  their  intrinsic 
importance ;  and  by  the  necessary  claims  of  our 
whole  scheme  to  systematic  completeness. 

We  pass  then,  after  so  much  delay,  to  the  consid- 
eration of  the  main  theme,  or  school  government  in 
itself  considered.  Bearing  in  mind  the  fact,  as  before 
stated,  that  school  government  is  the  proper  ordering 
of  the  organic  and  individual  action  in  the  school,  so 
as  to  secure  in  the  pupils  the  best  possible  develop- 
ment of  mind  and  discipline  of  heart,  with  reference 
both  to  present  and  future  welfare,  we  proceed  to  the 
consideration  of  its  general  elements  viewed  as  those 
distinct  parts  of  the  teacher's  exercise  of  his  intelli- 
gence, skill,  authority  and  virtue,  which  make  up  his 
entire  system  of  control.  These  we  classify  under 
twTo  general  heads  ;  namely,  Order  and  Discipline. 

A  very  common  error  of  the  public,  and  probably 
of  a  majority  of  teachers  also,  is  that  of  regarding 
the  government  of  the  school  as  summed  up  in  the 
discipline  alone.  This  is  possibly  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  discipline  is  the  higher  and  more  striking 
element,  and  as  such,  appeals  more  forcibly  to  the 
apprehension  of  the  common  mind.  Were  the  esti- 
mate rested  upon  this  comparative  superiority,- and 
the  discipline  accepted  as  simply  representative  of 
the  whole,  there  would  be  no  particular  ground  of 
complaint.     But  when  it  is  allowed  to  overshadow 


112  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

and  conceal  the  other  element,  the  thing  is  altogether 
inconsistent  and  injurious. 

For  a  variety  of  reasons,  both  of  these  elements, 
though  in  some  features  distinct,  are  inseparable  and 
alike  necessary.  That  they  must  be  so  taken,  will 
appear  from  the  following  facts  stated  in  brief ;  their 
general  institution  and  conduct  must  run  quite  paral- 
lel ;  their  perfection  must  depend  on  the  same  exe- 
cutive qualities;  and  their  facts  are,  all  the  time, 
mutually  emerging  from,  or  re-acting  upon,  each 
other.  Indeed,  nothing  can  be  clearer  than  that  the 
right  ordering  of  the  operations  of  the  school  must 
bear  strongly,  both  upon  the  amount  of  the  discipline 
required,  and  upon  the  ease  with  which  it  may  be  ad- 
ministered. Certainly,  no  ill-ordered  school  can  be, 
without  a  corresponding  multiplication  of  offenses ; 
nor  can  those  offenses  be  corrected  without  a  corres- 
ponding draft  upon  the  power  to  be  exercised.  Con- 
trariwise, also,  the  just  discipline  of  offenders  must 
re-act  powerfully  upon  the  regular  operations  of  the 
school,  making  the  mere  conduct  of  its  daily  system 
the  more  easy  and  successful.  The  thorough  defeat 
of  misrule  in  any  school,  is  the  certain  triumph  of  its 
general  order. 

By  the  order  of  the  school,  we  mean  that  which 
includes  its  general  system,  or  which  covers  all  its 
ordinary  operations  as  determined  by  the  teacher. 
This  will,  of  course,  include  the  two  subdivisions, 
Arrangement  and  Management. 

Arrangement  is  inclusive  of  all  that  pertains  to  the 
systematic  disposition  of  the  sessions  and  recesses  of 


GENERAL   ELEMENTS  :   ARRANGEMENT.  113 

the  school,  of  its  studies,  recitations  and  exercises. 
Of  the  absolute  importance  of  arrangement,  little 
need  be  said.  As  being  simply  the  nice  adjustment 
of  the  regular  machinery  of  the  school,  it  bears  too 
directly  upon  its  daily  running,  to  be  at  all  obscure 
or  doubtful  in  its  influence.  Nothing  can  do  more  to 
secure  the  movement  of  the  whole  machine  against 
irregularity,  friction  or  jar,  and  retardation.  Indeed, 
a  proper  arrangement  may  justly  be  styled  the  better 
half  of  good  management. 

A  proper  arrangement  must  be  marked  by  four 
leading  characteristics;  simplicity,  definitencss,  sys- 
tem and  practicality. 

First,  it  must  be  simple.  Such  is  the  defective 
organization  of  our  public  school  systems  generally, 
that,  in  most  schools,  any  disposition  of  the  daily 
operations  will  be  complicated  enough.  But  that  the 
arrangement  may  not  burden  the  teacher's  mind  to 
the  detriment  of  other  parts  of  his  work,  and  that  it 
may  not,  through  any  needless  cumbrousness,  be  pre- 
vented from  being  successfully  carried  out,  it  is  quite 
clear  that  it  should  involve  as  few  parts,  and  be  sub- 
ject to  as  few  rules  as  possible.  Whether  the  teacher 
is  able  to  reach  any  ideal,  or  prescribed  model  of 
simplicity  or  not,  let  simplicity  be  carefully  studied 
and  persistently  sought. 

While,  however,  simplicity  is  to  be  a  constant  aim, 
let  it  not  be  secured  at  the  expense  of  definiteness, 
There  should  be  no  vagueness  or  uncertainty  in  the 
operations  of  the  school.  Purely  incidental  matters 
may,  of  course,  be  left  to  an  incidental  or  impromptu 


114  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

adjustment.  This  will  serve  to  cultivate  in  the  teacher, 
both  that  quick  perception  and  ready  skill  which 
are  necessary  to  his  perfect  mastery  of  his  position, 
and  to  secure  in  the  adjustment  effected,  a  truer 
adaptation  to  the  immediate  wants  of  the  occasion. 
But  for  everything  else,  there  should  be  a  well-deter- 
mined time  and  place,  otherwise  the  ^scheme  of  the 
school  will  operate  somewhat  and  somewhere  to  the 
discredit  and,  perhaps,  the  embarrassment  of  the 
teacher,  and  to  the  disadvantage  or  the  injury  of 
those  under  his  charge. 

From  this,  it  will  be  quite  apparent  that  rules  will 
be  necessary.  Certainly,  the  teacher  can  have  no 
fixed  or  definite  arrangement,  without  laying  down 
specific  rules  for  himself ;  nor  can  he  expect  to  secure 
conformity  to  his  own  laws  of  arrangement,  among 
his  pupils,  without  laying  down  rules  as  specific  for 
their  guidance.  Some  educators  are  accustomed  to 
set  forth  with  an  ostentatious  flourish  of  supposed 
philosophy,  the  doctrine  that  the  teacher  is  to  make 
no  rules  for  the  school,  and  that  he  who  does  it  is, 
per  se,  unfit  for  his  business.  As  is  usually  the  case 
with  superficial  thinkers  who  would  be  wise  over- 
much, they  fail  to  discover  one  very  important  fact ; 
namely,  that  as  an  organized  body,  the  school  is 
mechanical  as  well  as  moral ;  it  has  parts  and  opera- 
tions that  must  be  fixed  by  positive  regulations,  as 
well  as  those  which  must  be  determined  by  moral 
principle.  The  general  law,  "  Do  right,"  upon  which 
these  theorists  lay  so  much  stress,  and  which  has 
been  somewhat  carefully  noticed  elsewhere,  even  if 


GENEKAL  ELEMENTS  :  ABEANGEMENT.  115 

it  answered  the  ends  of  the  moral  element  in  the 
school,  would  be  utterly  absurd  if  applied  to  its  me- 
chanical operations.  For  example,  such  questions  as, 
where,  or  in  what  order  pupils  shall  attend  to  such 
and  such  exercises,  are  questions  of  scholastic  econ- 
omy, and  not  personal  rectitude.  They  are  to  be  de- 
termined by  the  judgment,  and  not  by  the  reason. 
They  find  their  claim  to  obedience  in  the  positive  au- 
thority of  the  teacher,  and  not  in  the  enlightened  im- 
pulse of  the  pupil's  conscience.  The  same  is  true  of 
many  other  requisitions  which  will  be  noticed  here- 
after under  this  general  head. 

Again,  both  for  the  sake  of  its  own  perfection,  and 
in  order  to  secure  various  important  ends,  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  operations  of  the  school  must  be 
systematic.  Some  of  these  have  already  been  noticed 
in  the  discussion  of  government  as  applied  to  the 
child-nature.  Another  will  be  found  in  the  simple 
power  of  system  to  reflect  the  teacher's  capacity  *as  a 
practical  analyst  and  comprehensive  manager.  Fur- 
thermore, system  in  arrangement  favors  the  sim- 
plicity and  definiteness  to  which  reference  has  just 
been  made.  Indeed,  it  is  only  through  the  clear 
analysis  which  must  antedate  and  determine  the  sys- 
tem chosen,  that  the  teacher  becomes  able  to  simplify 
his  arrangement  by  rejecting  non-essentials,  and  to 
render  it  definite  by  applying  rules  according  the 
relative  demand  of  its  various  parts. 

Beyond  these,  system  is  necessary  to  harmony  both 
in  the  arrangement  and  the  conduct  of  the  school 
operations.     Not  until  every  part  is  adjusted  in  its 


116  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

place  under  the  inspiring  spirit  of  true  system,  can 
the  whole  become  a  self-consistent  unit;  and  not 
until  this  pervading  unity  is  attained,  can  the  whole 
movement  be  secure  against  possible  friction  or  con- 
flict.    System  is  thus  in  the  school,  as  elsewhere, 

"The  hidden  soul  of  harmony." 

But  to  this  very  harmony,  thoroughness,  or  compre- 
hensiveness is  necessary.  It  is  only  under  the  light 
of  a  systematic  classification  of  the  facts  of  the  ar- 
rangement, that  the  whole  field  stands  clearly  revealed 
in  all  its  parts,  their  proportions  and  relations,  so 
that  the  judgment  may  determine  whether  aught  is 
wanting  to  the  just  completeness  of  the  whole.  And 
the  importance  of  this  completeness  is  seen  in  the 
simple  fact  that  it  is  the  only  safeguard  against  spe- 
cific or  incidental  legislation,  which  is  always  waste- 
ful of  power  and  injurious  to  harmony.  As  in  build- 
ing, the  thrusting  of  modifications  into  the  original 
plan,  always  enhances  the  cost  disproportionally,  and 
endangers  the  ultimate  symmetry  of  the  edifice ;  so 
is  it  with  the  thrusting  in  of  impromptu  regulations 
to  meet  overlooked  contingencies  in  the  order  of  the 
school ;  they  endanger  its  consistency,  and  unduly  bur- 
den its  movements.  While,  however,  the  teacher  must 
hold  system  as  essential,  he  must  not  forget  that  it  is 
susceptible  of  abuse.  He  must  not  forget  that  just 
in  proportion  as  it  aspires  to  perfection,  it  is  in  danger 
of  withdrawing  itself  from  the  conservative  influence 
of  circumstances,  and  of  becoming  consequently  alto- 
gether speculative  and  impracticable.  Such  a  system 
is  necessarily  unfitted  to  the  wants  of  our  schools,  in 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  ARRANGEMENT.  117 

which,  so  generally,  stubborn  facts  both  confront  and 
confound  fine-spun  theories.  It  is  also  the  more  to 
be  guarded  against,  because  under  the  existing  and 
growing  passion  of  education  for  absolute  schemes 
based  upon  exhaustive  analyses,  the,  perhaps,  domi- 
nant and  most  dangerous  tendency  of  popular  educa- 
tion is  to  swing  to  impracticable  or  vicious  extremes, 
and  not  unfrequently,  through  arcs  of  oscillation 
either  tremendous  or  absurd. 

Hence,  the  arrangement  of  the  school  operations, 
while  systematic,  must  be  practical.  While  in  con- 
stituting it,  the  teacher  may  be  guided  by  well-con- 
sidered theory,  he  must  still  see  to  it,  that  the  insuffi- 
ciencies or  aberrations  of  his  theory  are  constantly 
corrected  by  a  careful  induction  of  facts, — the  very 
facts  which  his  method  must  meet  and  master,  or 
prove  a  failure.  Better,  if  need  be,  sacrifice  some- 
what of  theoretical  perfection  than  come  short  of 
practical  adaptation. 

As  illustrative  of  what  we  mean  in  this  connection, 
take  the  following  specific  applications  of  the  princi- 
ple. In  every  public  school,  there  are  commonly, 
some  general  exercises  in  which  the  larger  portion 
of  the  pupils  may  engage  simultaneously.  Sightly 
managed,  these  are  quite  desirable,  as  they  serve  to 
develop  skill  and  energy  in  the  teacher,  and  unity  of 
feeling  and  harmony  of  action  among  the  pupils. 
The  studies  adapted  to  such  exercises  are  gymnastics, 
singing,  spelling,  and  reading.  Now  the  principle  of 
arrangement,  under  consideration,  requires  that  these 
should  be  set  apart  for  the  opening  or  the  close  of 


118  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

school,  for  the  reason  that  they  will  then  least  inter- 
fere with  individual  application  to  study,  the  pupils 
having  either,  not  begun  their  work  upon  their  lessons, 
or  having  already  finished  it.  So  too,  of  these  exer- 
cises, those  should  be  set  down  for  the  opening,  which 
require  the  least  antecedent  preparation,  because 
there  has  yet  occurred  no  time  for  such  preparation. 
Still  further,  those  that  are  most  exhausting  should 
come  in  the  same  connection  as  the  preceding,  be- 
cause at  that  time,  the  physical  powers  are  most 
fresh  and  vigorous. 

Again,  the  training  of  the  juvenile  classes  in  the 
alphabet  and  reading,  the  object  exercises  if  there  be 
any,  and  the  reading  lessons  of  the  larger  classes, 
should  occur  in  the  early  part  of  each  session,  so  as 
to  afford  time  for  the  preparation  of  the  various  les- 
sons to  be  recited  by  those  who  are  mature  enough 
to  study.  Among  the  first  of  these,  may  also  be  in- 
cluded the  recitation  of  lessons  prepared  the  evening 
beforehand,  at  home,  for  the  obvious  reason  that  they 
are  in  readiness,  and  should  be  put  out  of  the  way  of 
the  daily  study. 

The  assignment  of  those  lessons  to  be  learned  at 
home  should  not  be  made  without  regard  to  principle. 
They  should  embrace  studies  which  the  pupil  can 
pursue  independently  to  the  best  advantage,  and 
which  will  require  the  least  transportation  of  appa- 
ratus or  materials,  or  those  which  require  results  in 
writing  rather  than  those  in  abstract  retention. 

In  the  distribution  of  exercises  or  studies  between 
the  two  sessions,  those  should  be  assigned  to  the 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:   MANAGEMENT.  119 

morning  session,  which  are  the  least  interesting  or 
the  most  severe,  since  during  that  portion  of  the  clay, 
the  powers  of  both  the  teacher  and  the  pupils  are 
most  fresh  and  vigorous. 

The  assignment  of  the  recesses  should  also  be  care- 
fully regulated  by  this  principle  of  practical  adapta- 
tion. Nothing  can  be  more  absurd  than  the  common 
custom  of  having  one  and  the  same  recess  for  the 
older  and  the  younger  pupils  ;  for  those  who  can,  and 
those  who  cannot  study.  The  latter  should  have  two 
or  three  recesses  rather  than  one,  for  it  is  little  other 
than  cruelty  to  compel  them  to  sit  idly  and  wearily 
waiting  the  coming  of  the,  to  them,  long-delayed  re- 
cess. Of  the  former  class,  there  are  frequently  some 
to  be  found  who  should  almost  be  ashamed  to  take 
one  recess,  as  if  it  were  practically  an  impeachment 
of  their  power  of  fixed  application. 

The  principle  of  practical  adaptation  will  also  raise 
the  inquiry,  whether  the  recess  should  occur  precisely 
in  the  middle  of  a  session,  at  which  time,  while  the 
pupil  has  not  become  fatigued,  his  mind  has  only  just 
got  most  closely  and  vigorously  at  its  work  ;  or  nearer 
the  close  when  his  study  is  done,  or  is  nearly  so; 
when  he  is  actually  fatigued ;  and  when  a  recess  will 
refresh  his  powers  preparatory  to  the  work  of  recita- 
tion. 

But  we  pass  from  these  illustrations  of  the  bearing 
of  practicality  upon  the  arrangement,  to  the  subject 
of  management.  Management  is  that  part  of  order 
which  includes  all  that  belongs  to  the  proper  conduct 
and  complete  carrying  out  of  the  system  of  arrange- 


120  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

ment  adopted.  It  hence,  covers  the  whole  of  the 
teacher's  bearing  and  action  during  the  progress  of 
the  various  parts  of  his  system,  and  in  carrying  his 
school  through  them,  whether  they  are  sessions  or 
recesses,  exercises  or  recitations. 

A  proper  management  must  be  marked  by  five 
general  characteristics ;  namely,  Promptness,  Steadi- 
ness, Earnestness,  Geniality  and  Quietness. 

First,  it  must  be  prompt.  Generally  in  the  public 
schools,  there  is  an  excess  of  work,  and  hence,  a  de- 
ficiency in  time.  It  is  rarely,  if  ever,  the  case  that 
the  teacher  is  able  to  carry  the  whole  daily  order 
through  with  sufficient  or  invariable  thoroughness. 
Either  all  of  the  parts  must  be  somewhat  abbreviated 
or  hurried,  or  some  of  them  must  be  practically  neg- 
lected. Promptness,  then,  as  a  means  of  saving  time, 
is  indispensable,  for  this  saving  of  time  is  necessary 
to  the  perfection  of  the  teacher's  work.  Hence,  the 
teacher  must  be  instant  to  the  time,  as  the  peal  is  to 
the  flash. 

Then,  again,  tardiness  is  necessarily  confusion.  An 
exercise  delayed  is  either  an  exercise  cut  unduly 
short,  or  inconsistently  crowded  upon  its  fellow. 
Whichever  it  may  be,  the  order  of  the  school  is  out 
of  joint,  and  so  far  the  result  is  confusion.  Not  un- 
frequently,  too,  the  first  pressure  caused  by  the  loss 
of  time,  throws  the  teacher  into  a  nervous  hurry  for  the 
whole  session,  and  thus  the  disorder  is  perpetuated. 
The  only  preservative  against  such  hurry  aud  con- 
fusion is  promptness. 

Still  further,  promptness  in  the  teacher  operates 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  MANAGEMENT.      121 

both  indirectly  and  directly  to  secure  punctuality  and 
readiness  throughout  the  whole  school.  Of  the  bear- 
ing of  these  upon  the  general  harmony  and  success, 
little  need  be  urged.  Prevailing  dilatoriness  is  little 
better  than  prevailing  insubordination.  It  is  the 
necessary  concomitant  of  lack  of  interest ;  and  lack 
of  interest  is  lack  of  order.  Hence,  it  is  always  safe 
to  conclude  that  unless  the  teacher's  management  is 
prompt,  his  discipline  must  be  defective,  if  not  a 
failure. 

Again,  the  teacher's  management  must  be  steady. 
One  of  the  most  common  evils  in  both  parental  and 
school  government  is  that  of  constant  fluctuation. 
There  is  no  steady  and  continuous  pressure  of  the 
authority,  in  the  direction  chosen,  and  to  the  very  end 
of  a  complete  attainment.  To-day  decisive  measures 
are  adopted  and  pressed  with  vigor.  To-morrow  the 
effort  is  relaxed,  and  the  preceding  policy  practically 
contradicted.  It  may  be  even  worse  than  this; 
through  fickleness  of  purpose  or  love  of  novelty,  the 
old  measures  or  methods  may  be  summarily  aban- 
doned, and  new  ones  fitfully  introduced  in  their  place. 

One  of  the  necessary  results  of  this  unsteadiness  is 
loss  of  respect  for  him  who  has  the  management  of 
affairs.  Unsteadiness  argues  either  ignorance,  lack 
of  forecast,  or  weakness  of  purpose,  any  one  of  which 
is  enough  to  secure  the  just  condemnation  of  the 
teacher.  But,  very  clearly,  the  finest  attainment  of 
order  must  depend  very  largely  upon  the  respect 
which  the  teacher  commands.  Without  that  respect, 
he  can  carry  neither   methods  nor  measures  to   a 

6 


122  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

happy  completion.  His  sole  dependence  mnst  be 
mere  arbitrary  authority,  perhaps  what  is  still  worse, 
mere  brute  force.  But  however  proper  these  may  be 
in  their  place,  without  the  concurrence  of  respect,  the 
success  they  may  win  is  half  failure. 

Beyond  this,  unsteady  management  destroys  faith 
in  the  certainty  of  things.  Few  principles  are  more 
productive  of  uniform  and  orderly  action  among  men 
than  that  of  the  invariable  uniformity  of  nature. 
Since  the  mountain  will  not  come  to  Mahomet,  Ma- 
homet must  go  to  the  mountain.  Nature  will  not 
change,  hence,  man  conforms  to  nature.  So  the  reg- 
ularity of  nature  begets  regularity  in  man.  Thus,  in 
the  school,  the  inflexible  steadiness  of  the  manage- 
ment creates  among  the  pupils,  unwavering  faith  in 
the  certainty  of  results,  and  a  fixed  conviction  of  the 
necessity  of  conformity  to  the  consequent  condition 
of  things.  This  is  itself  order.  Order  thus  begotten 
is  habit.  And.  habit  is  self-controlling.  Hence, 
steadiness  itself  is  power. 

But  aside  from  its  direct  bearing  on  the  manage- 
ment of  the  school,  this  steadiness  has  a  most  impor- 
tant prospective  influence.  As  tending  to  the  creation 
of  habitual  steadiness  of  action  among  the  pupils  of 
our  schools,  it  operates  ultimately  as  a  corrective  of 
one  of  our  worst  national  characteristics,  popular  in- 
stability. With  us,  everything,  from  the  action  of 
individuals  to  the  gravest  matters  of  national  legisla- 
tion, is  in  a  state  of  constant  fluctuation.  Violently 
receding  from  one  extreme,  only  to  rush  as  violently 
to  another;  up  for  a  measure  like  a  flood-tide  or  an 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  I   MANAGEMENT.  123 

inundation,  and  then,  tinder  the  influence  of  some 
counter  excitement,  subsiding  or  ebbing  until,  in  the 
old  direction,  nothing  is  visible  but  dreary  mud-flats 
or  barren  sand-spits  ;  it  becomes  a  question  whether 
we  are  really  susceptible  of  becoming  stable.  This 
much,  however,  is  certain,  that  if  that  stability  is  ever 
to  be  established  as  a  national  trait,  its  foundation 
must  be  laid  in  the  individual  character  as  developed 
in  the  home  and  in  the  school.  And  yet  there  is 
reason  to  fear  that  unsteadiness  in  management  is 
one  of  the  most  common  and  most  incorrigible  faults 
of  both. 

Again,  the  management  of  the  school  must  evince 
earnestness.  Promptness  and  steadiness  carry  with 
them  the  appearance  of  mere  power,  and  are,  hence, 
liable  to  give  to  the  teacher's  bearing  and  action  an 
air  of  stiffness  and  coldness,  which  can  never  prove 
favorable  to  the  best  development  of  the  young  mind. 
This  evil  can  only  be  countervailed  by  the  presence 
and  pervading  influence  of  some  heart-principle  in 
the  management.  Hence,  it  is  every  way  important 
that  all  that  the  teacher  does  should  be  characterized 
by  thorough  earnestness.  For  more  particularly,  a 
thorough  earnestness  always  produces  in  the  teacher 
an  air  of  firm  assurance  that  carries  to  the  mind  of 
the  pupil  a  full  conviction  of  the  teacher's  ability. 
Proper  self-reliance,  or  confidence,  is  itself  a  source, 
as  well  as  an  evidence,  of  power.  This  is  eminently 
true  of  the  confidence  or  assurance  begotten  of  true 
earnestness.  But,  for  the  possession  of  that  earnest- 
ness, the  teacher's  entire  business  is  a  continual  plea. 


124  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

Hence,  for  the  lack  of  it  in  his  management,  he  has 
no  excuse. 

Still  further,  this  earnestness  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher,  in  all  the  various  exercises  of  the  school,  is 
contagious.  It  passes  beyond  himself.  It  flies  from 
heart  to  heart  throughout  the  little  commonwealth. 
It  finds  and  arouses  in  each  a  kindred  spirit.  Up 
springs  through  all  ranks  and  classes  a  kindred  zeal. 
This  general  earnestness,  or  zeal,  at  once  commits 
the  whole  school  to  the  order  which  the  teacher  has 
instituted,  and  in  which  he  is  so  deeply  and  evidently 
interested.  In  this  way,  the  teacher's  earnestness,  by 
commanding  spontaneous  co-operation,  reduplicates 
his  power  and  ensures  success. 

Partly  out  of  this  demand  for  earnestness,  grows 
the  demand  that  the  management  should  be  genial. 
That  earnestness  is  supposed  to  be  generous,  not 
wrapped  up  in  the  attainment  of  ends  concerning  the 
teacher  alone,  but  ever  looking  forward  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  pupil  as  the  highest  good.  A  genuine  in- 
terest in  this  latter  object  will  naturally  shed  over  the 
teacher's  whole  bearing  and  action  in  the  conduct  of 
the  school,  the  light  of  a  constant  and  considerate 
good  will.  Hence,  so  far  as  it  can  be  done  without 
destroying  dignity  or  infringing  upon  order,  the 
teacher  should  come  down  pleasantly  to  the  pupil's 
level,  evince  a  sympathetic  feeling  for  him,  and  skill- 
fully adapt  things  to  the  production  of  his  pleasure, 
as  well  as  his  profit.  This,  by  no  means  argues  that 
he  should  humor  the  pupil  in  what  is  weak  or  inju- 
rious, nor  that  he  should  stoop  so  far  as  to  mingle  in 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:  MANAGEMENT.       125 

his  rough  sports, — himself  a  mere  boy  among  hoys. 
But  it  does  imply  that  he  should  comfort  the  child 
when  he  is  in  trouble,  encourage  him  in  his  efforts  to 
do.  well,  evince  an  interest  in  his  amusements,  and 
lend  him  a  helpful" aid  in  planning  or  perfecting  such 
as  are  really  wholesome  and  gleeful. 

The  natural  influence  of  all  this,  it  is  easy  to  see, 
will  be  to  enlarge  the  pupil's  confidence  in  the  kindli- 
ness, as  well  as  the  ability,  of  the  teacher,  and  to  draw 
both  together  in  the  bonds  of  a  common  and  a  grow- 
ing love.  The  effect  of  such  a  love  is  to  secure  on 
the  part  of  the  pupil,  a  hearty  co-operation  in  all  the 
plans  of  the  teacher,  and  to  ensure  to  his  manage- 
ment a  perfect  success.  It  is  in  reaching  the  sources 
of  this  love,  as  will  be  elsewhere  shown,  that  the 
teacher  attains  the  seat  of  his  highest  influence  and 
power. 

There  is,  however,  one  tendency  of  high  earnest- 
ness which  must  be  guarded  against,  and  the  more 
carefully,  because  the  influence  of  all  this  pressure 
upon  the  teacher  in  the  direction  of  perfect  manage- 
ment, goes  to  increase  that  tendency.  We  speak 
here  of  the  liability  of  the  teacher  to  a  sort  of  over 
energy  in  his  management,  degenerating,  perhaps, 
into  mere  boisterousness.  As  opposed  to  this,  it  is 
demanded  that  the  management  be  quiet. 

And  by  this  is  intended,  not  the  quietness  of 
sluggish  unconcern,  not  the  quietness  that  grows  out 
of  a  fear  of  trouble,  a  dislike  of  labor,  or  a  love  for 
the  comfortable  but  debasing  recesses  of  an  easy 
chair.     The  quietness  proposed  is  not  so  much  con- 


126  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

stitutional  or  involuntary,  as  deliberate.  It  is  the 
quietness  of  one  who  has  carefully  taken  his  own 
measure,  and  that  of  the  objects  he  seeks  to  effect ; 
and  who,  confident  of  the  end,  calmly  moves  on,  with- 
out haste,  without  perturbation,  without  tumult, 
without  violence,  towards  its  attainment.  Nor  is 
there  anything  in  this  which  conflicts  with  the  pene- 
trating glance,  the  firm  tone,  the  animated  move- 
ment ;  it  conflicts  only  with  whatever  is  fussy,  voci- 
ferous or  violent. 

As  a  result  of  this  quietness,  it  will  be  seen  clearly 
that  it  favors  the  most  intelligent  understanding  on 
the  part  of  the  school,  of  what  is  desired,  or  what  is 
being  done.  All  needless  noise  or  parade  of  energy, 
by  distracting  the  attention,  and,  perhaps,  stunning 
the  senses,  tends  to  impair  the  distinctness  of  the 
pupil's  perceptions,  and  so  stands  in  the  way  of  his 
receiving  the  clearest  and  most  enduring  impressions. 

Aside  from  this,  as  in  the  preceding  instances,  the 
tendency  of  the  teacher's  manner  is  to  reproduce 
itself  in  that  of  his  pupils.  A  quiet  teacher  may  have 
noisy  pupils,  but  it  will  be  because  the  quietness  is 
negative,  and  is,  hence,  coupled  with  positive  ineffi- 
ciency. It  is,  nevertheless,  the  natural  effect  of  the 
true  quality,  to  repress  the  noisiness  so  common 
among  children.  Kightly  employed,  it  is  one  of  the 
most  powerful  means  of  securing  an  orderly  silence 
in  the  school. 

Again,  this  rational  quietness  is  favorable  to  the 
exercise  of  proper  reticence,  and  may  oven  produce  it. 
By  this  reticence,  we  mean  a  wise  reserve  in  the 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:  MANAGEMENT.  127 

teacher  as  to  the  antecedent  betrayal  or  proclama- 
tion of  his  intentions  or  plans,  to  the  school.  There 
are,  as  has  been  stated,  cases  in  which  this  previous 
announcement  of  measures,  as  a  means  of  intelligent 
understanding  among  the  pupils,  and  as  guarding 
them  against  unwitting  errors,  is  necessary.  But 
the  object  here,  is  to  guard  the  teacher  against  a 
thoughtless  habit  of  gossiping  about  his  proposed 
measures,  or  of  conceitedly  flourishing  them  before 
the  school.  It  cannot  but  be  seen  that  it  adds  little 
to  his  credit,  to  be  unable  to  keep  his  own  govern- 
mental secrets.  Besides,  any  such  heedless  or  ostenta- 
tious parade  of  his  plans  much  beforehand,  leaves  no 
room  for  unobserved  modifications  in  case  of  diffi- 
culty or  disappointment ;  it  operates  directly,  by  tak- 
ing off  the  edge  of  novelty  or  newly  expectant  interest, 
to  impair  their  effectiveness ;  and  it  sometimes  actu- 
ally leads  to  graver  complications  in  the  matters  in- 
volved. A  reticent  quietness  is,  therefore,  one  of  the 
finest  attributes  of  the  teacher's  management. 

As  a  last  excellence,  this  quiet  management  tends 
directly  to  create  a  higher  respect  for  the  teacher.  To 
the  observing  pupil,  nothing  in  the  teacher  can  be  more 
suggestive  of  manly  self-control,  and  of  power  in  re- 
serve. It  is  easy  for  him  to  see  occasions  enough  for 
very  natural  outbreaks  of  vehemence  in  voice,  or  haste 
and  disorder  in  action.  It  is  easy  for  him  to  see 
how  the  teacher,  by  means  sudden  and  startling,  al- 
though tending  to  disquietness  and  violence,  might 
summarily  secure  the  ends  he  seeks.  But  when  he 
sees  all  this  calmly  forborne,  and  unmoved  quietness, 


128  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

and  quiet  immobility  still  the  teacher's  sole  reliance, 
he  can  not  but  feel  a  profound  reverence  for  a  char- 
acter so  self-poised,  and  an  authority  so  significantly 
reticent.  The  influence  of  such  a  reverence,  on  the 
teacher's  success  in  the  order  of  the  school,  is  too  ap- 
parent to  need  further  discussion. 

It  only  remains  then,  for  us,  under  this  general 
head,  to  urge  upon  teachers  a  closer  attention  to  the 
arrangement  and  management  of  the  operations  of 
the  school,  as  a  part  of  their  government,  eminently 
adapted  to  reduce  the  occasions  for  any  uprising 
need  of  discipline.  It  is,  indeed,  the  proper  field  for 
the  finest  exercise  of  judgment  and  tact  in  the  appli- 
cation of  the  old  maxim  ;  "  An  ounce  of  prevention  is 
worth  a  pound  of  cure."  Discipline  is  chiefly  cura- 
tive :  arrangement  and  management  are  eminently 
preventive.  They  are  the  shrewdest  allies  of  that 
master-art  in  the  control  of  the  young, — the  art  of 
counter-diversion,  to  which,  as  applied  to  individual 
cases,  reference  has  already  been  made.  What  is 
true  of  its  power  over  the  child  as  an  individual,  is  as 
true  of  its  influence  on  the  school  as  a  whole.  Hence, 
it  is  quite  possible  for  the  school  when  ready,  either 
from  prevailing  weariness  or  general  irritation,  to 
break  out  into  overt  acts  of  subordination,  to  be,  un- 
suspectingly to  itself,  swept  by  some  skilful  counter- 
diversion,  into  a  new  channel  or  new  current  of 
aroused  interest  or  restored  good  feeling.  For  the 
attainment  of  such  results,  the  teacher's  management 
is  responsible. 


CHAPTEK  VII. 

GENEBAL  ELEMENTS  CONTINUED — DISCIPLINE — REQUIRE- 
MENT. 

Order  and  discipline  related— Discipline  distinguished  from  order— Dis- 
cipline defined— Elements  classified,  as  Requirement,  Judgment  and 
Enforcement,  or  Correction— Discipline  as  specifically  related  to 
school  government — Requirement  distinguished— Specific  duties  of  the 
pupil  classified ;  as,  Personal,  Associated,  and  Filial  and  Scholastic — 
Claims  of  these  self-evident — Requirement  restricted — Illustration — 
Duties  required  out  of  school — Offences  in  transitu — School  jurisdic- 
tion limited— InfluSce  but  not  authority  to  be  employed— Excep- 
tional cases  considered— Characteristics  of  requirement,  moderate- 
ness, naturalness,  fairness  and  firmness — Moderateness  distinguished 
and  enforced — Naturalness  distinguished  and  enforced — Fairness  dis- 
tinguished and  enforced— Firmness  considered. 

In  passing  to  the  consideration  of  discipline,  it 
must  be  premised  that  it  is  so  closely  related  to  order, 
that  it  is  difficult  to  treat  them  so  far  separately  as  to 
have  no  points  in  discussion  common  to  both.  And 
yet,  general  convenience  and  the  real  differences 
that  exist  in  their  nature,  require  them  to  be  thus 
separated. 

But  in  order  that  their  points  of  approximation 
and  divergence  may  be  clearly  distinguished,  we  shall 
place  the  two  in  careful  contrast,  as  follows.  Order 
in  the  government  of  the  school,  embraces  whatever 
is  merely  mechanical,  or  organic ;  discipline  is  in- 
clusive of  whatever  is  moral  in  its  nature  or  ends : 
order  has  jurisdiction   over  the  field  of    practical 

G* 


130  SCHOOL   GOVERNMENT. 

economy  or  convenience  ;  discipline  extends  its  sway 
over  that  of  personal  responsibility  or  duty :  order 
stands  upon  the  claims  of  positive  authority ;  disci- 
pline is  founded  upon  the  ultimate  principles  of  rec- 
titude :  order  regulates  the  exercise  of  the  faculties 
as  all  subsidiary  to  the  development  of  the  intellect ; 
discipline  exerts  control  over  the  moral  faculties,  the 
conscience  and  the  will,  as  determinative  of  their  own 
conditions,  or  of  character.  Hence,  finally,  the  grand 
law  of  order  is  expeeliency  ;  that  of  discipline  is  rec- 
titude. Discipline,  in  its  highest  sense,  may  thep  be 
defined  as  the  proper  control  of  individual  power  and 
responsibility  in  the  school,  with  reference  to  the 
higher  laws  and  aims  of  pure  morality. 

The  elements  of  discipline,  as  thus  defined,  may  be 
arranged  under  three  general  heads  ;  the  legislative, 
judicial,  and  executive,  and,  as  thus  classified,  may 
be  specifically  designated  as ;  Requirement,  Judgment, 
and  Enforcement,  or  Correction. 

In  the  light  of  this  classification,  it  will  be  seen 
that  discipline,  as  here  treated,  while  bordering  closely 
upon  government  as  commonly  understood  in  the 
state,  is  only  a  specific  part  of  government  as  requir- 
ed for  the  school.  The  reason  why  government  in 
the  school  is  thus  made  more  comprehensive  than 
government  in  the  state  is  clear.  In  the  state,  the 
maturity  and  independent  capacity  of  the  citizen,  the 
necessary  variety  of  his  pursuits,  and  the  freedom  of 
application  demanded,  render  a  fixed  and  comprehen- 
sive method  of  action  inconsistent,  if  not  impractica- 
ble.    In  the  school  as  a  commonwealth,  from  the 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  REQUIREMENT.       131 

immaturity  and  dependence  of  its  members,  and  the 
necessity  for  the  united  and  harmonious  pursuit  of  a 
specific  end,  order  becomes  an  essential  part  of  the 
general  control,  and,  hence,  must  be  included  as  the 
first  grand  element  of  the  government,  as  discipline 
is  the  second. 

Under  the  head  of  requirement  as  the  first  gen- 
eral element  of  discipline,  must  be  included  all  de- 
mands made  upon  the  pupil  as  susceptible  of  moral 
relations,  and  subject  to  moral  obligation  in  the  school. 
In  other  words,  whatever  the  teacher  may  either  posi- 
tively or  negatively  require  as  based  upon  principles 
of  morality ;  as  apprehended  by  the  reason  and  felt 
in  the  conscience  to  be  obligatory, — all  this  may  be 
made  a  matter  of  disciplinary  demand.  Requirement, 
then,  covers  the  whole  ground  of  the  pupil's  moral 
obligation  as  a  member  of  the  school. 

The  specific  duties  embraced  under  the  head  of  re- 
quirement may  be  classified  thus  : 

1.  Personal,  or  those  the  child  owes  to  himself  as 
pupil,  as,  for  example,  self-improvement : 

2.  Associated,  or  those  the  pupil  owes  to  his  com- 
panions as  members  of  the  school ;  namely,  Equity 
and  Kindness  : 

3.  Filial  and  Scholastic,  or  those  the  pupil  owes  to 
the  parent  so  far  as  his  commands  reach  the  school, 
and  those  he  owes  to  the  teacher  as  its  ruler, — or 
Obedience  and  Eeverence. 

Upon  these  duties  severally  considered,  little  need 
be  said.  The  obligation  of  the  pupil  to  fulfill  them  to 
the  best  of  his  ability  is  self-evident.     That  he  should 


132  SCHOOL  GOVEIINMENT. 

be  a  member  of  the  school,  necessarily  involves  his 
hearty  co-operation  in  the  effort  of  the  school  author- 
ity to  secure  his  best  development  and  discipline  :  he 
could  not  be  anywhere  associated  with  his  compan- 
ions, much  less  in  the  intimate  and  important  rela- 
tions of  the  school,  without  being  bound  to  respect 
the  rights  and  feelings  of  all :  from  the  duties  of  filial 
obedience  and  regard,  no  place  or  position  can  re- 
lease him,  much  less  his  membersliip  in  the  school 
which  the  parent  has  provided  for  the  better  advance- 
ment of  his  highest  interests  :  and  his  obligation  to 
obey  and  reverence  the  teacher  as  the  specific  repre- 
sentative of  the  parent,  for  the  time  being,  and  as  the 
rightful  and  necessary  head  of  the  school  and  soul 
of  its  operations,  is  founded  on  the  very  nature  of 
things. 

It  will  be  observed,  however,  that  the  moral  obli- 
gation involved  in  all  these  duties,  is  restricted,  as  if 
bounded  by  the  pupil's  relation  to  the  school.  This 
must  be  of  necessity.  School  government  is  specific 
in  its  aim,  and  limited  in  its  field  of  application. 
While,  then,  ethics  entire  may  be  properly  embraced 
in  the  instruction  given  in  the  school,  only  such  of  its 
principles  as  are  distinctly  applicable  to  the  control 
of  the  child  as  a  member  of  the  school,  can  be  pro- 
perly embraced  in  its  system  of  government.  These 
principles  as  constituting  the  body  of  school  ethics, 
are  all  those  which  may  be  consistently  noticed  here. 

As  illustrative  of  this  restriction  of  school  ethics, 
the  following  specific  cases  may  be  taken.  The  prin- 
ciples of  ethics  bearing  upon  "  Duties  to  tlie  State," 


GENEEAL  ELEMENTS  :  EEQUIEEMENT.  133 

can  have  no  place  whatever  among  the  requisitions 
of  school  government ;  for,  neither  is  the  child  yet  a 
citizen,  nor  would  the  school  be  held  responsible  for 
his  treatment  of  those  duties,  even  if  the  pupil  had 
attained  his  majority.  All  that  belongs  to  the  rela- 
tions the  pupil  (if  he  be  of  age)  holds  to  the  state, 
and  hence  it  is  altogether  within  the  province  of  civil 
government.  The  state,  it  is  true,  recognizes  the 
school,  but  surrenders  to  the  school  none  of  its  pre- 
rogatives. 

Again,  the  "Duties  to  the  Parent"  belong  in  gen- 
eral to  the  domestic  relation,  and  properly  come 
under  the  cognizance  of  the  home  government  alone. 
It  is  quite  clear,  however,  that  out  of  the  relation 
which  the  parent  holds  to  the  child  in  the  school,  and 
out  of  the  relation  which  the  teacher,  as  his  agent  or 
substitute,  holds  to  the  parent,  there  may  arise  spe- 
cific duties  to  the  latter,  which  the  former  must  re- 
cognize in  his  government.  The  parent  may,  for  in- 
stance, with  the  consent  of  the  teacher,  lay  certain 
specific  requisitions  upon  his  child  as  a  member  of 
the  school ;  and  the  government  of  the  school  may 
claim  and  enforce  obedience  to  these  requisitions. 
The  duty  of  obedience  in  this  case,  while  a  quasi  duty 
to  the  teacher,  is  primarily  a  duty  to  the  parent. 
Such,  and  such  only  of  the  child's  duties  to  the  parent 
come  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  teacher. 

Similar  illustrations  might  be  drawn  from  the  duties 
of  the  pupil  to  the  teacher,  to  his  associates,  and  to 
himself.  It  is  not  necessary,  however,  to  cite  them, 
since  the  general  principle  is  sufficiently  clear ;  name- 


134  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

ly,  that  whatever  the  duties  may  be,  to  fall  properly 
under  the  cognizance  and  authority  of  the  school 
government,  they  must  both  practically  come  within 
its  reach,  and  must  evidently  pertain  to  the  facts  and 
relations  of  the  school  as  the  commonwealth  con- 
cerned. 

This  general  principle  may  be  profitably  applied  to 
the  solution  of  the  question  often  raised  as  to  the 
teacher's  jurisdiction  over  the  pupil's  duties  out  of 
school,  and  especially  over  offences  occurring  in  tran- 
situ. With  regard  to  any  school  duties  required  to 
be  performed  at  home,  it  must  be  clear  that  the 
teacher  has  no  original  prerogative  whatever.  His 
right  to  assign  such  duties  or  to  enforce  their  fulfil- 
ment, must  rest  wholly  on  an  understanding  with  the 
parent,  either  tacit  or  explicit.  Even  in  this  case,  his 
application  of  authority  must  be  indirectly  to  the  de- 
ficiency evinced  by  the  pupil  in  the  school,  rather 
than  directly  to  the  delinquency  that  occurred  at 
home.  For  instance,  in  the  case  of  lessons  to  be 
learned  at  home,  it  is  competent  for  the  teacher  only 
to  take  cognizance  of  the  fault  of  failure  in  recitation  ; 
it  belongs  to  the  parent  alone  to  correct  the  indolence 
or  misappropriation  of  time  at  home,  which  was  the 
real  offence. 

The  question  as  to  offences  occurring  during  the 
the  period  of  the  pupil's  transition  from  his  home  to 
the  school,  and  vice  versa,  is  more  intricate.  And  this, 
for  the  simple  reason  that  the  limits  of  the  school 
jurisdiction  are  somewhat  obscure.  But  the  very 
cause  of  the  difficulty  is  suggestive  of  the  direction 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :    REQUIREMENT.  135 

in  which  we  are  to  look  for  the  chief  responsibility  in 
such  cases.  "We  may  accept  this,  then,  as  a  first 
principle ;  that  where  the  limits  of  jurisdiction  are 
the  broadest  and  most  definite,  there  is  to  be  found 
the  direct  responsibility  for  the  correction  of  the  of- 
fences in  question.  Any  other  responsibility  in  this 
direction,  must  be  wholly  conditioned  and  incidental. 
It  needs  now  no  argument  to  show  that  only  the 
authority  of  the  parent  is  thus  comprehensive  and 
complete  in  its  application.  The  parents'  jurisdiction 
over  the  child,  and  responsibility  for  his  conduct,  are 
subject  to  no  restrictions  of  either  place  or  time. 
Not  merely  within  the  precincts  of  the  home,  nor 
during  certain  set  periods  of  employment,  is  the  child 
held  to  the  duty  of  obedience  to  parental  law.  It  is 
a  duty  for  all  time  and  place. 

But  it  will  certainly  not  be  urged  that  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  school  government  is  thus  far-reaching 
and  comprehensive.  Limited  alike  in  its  object,  time, 
and  place  of  action,  nothing  can  be  more  evident 
than  that  the  application  of  its  authority  must  find  a 
necessary  circumscription  within  corresponding  limits. 
Not  for  the  child's  general  conduct  in  society,  at  the 
home  nor  any  more  in  the  highways ;  not  for  his  be- 
havior upon  holidays,  at  morning  or  at  night,  nor 
any  more  during  any  time  not  within  the  immediate 
neighborhood  of  the  school  sessions,  can  the  teacher, 
as  teacher,  be  justly  held  responsible.  The  parent's 
authority  may  rightfully  maintain  its  hold  upon  the 
child  until  he  comes  under  the  eye  of  the  teacher,  and 
within  reach  of  his  voice  and  hand ;  but  the  teacher 


136  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

has  no  right  to  extend  his  rule  contrariwise  over  the 
child  until  the  moment  when  he  passes  into  the 
sacred  precincts  of  the  home,  and  into  the  parent's 
presence  and  power.  It  is  demanding  for  the  less, 
what  can  only  be  due  to  the  greater. 

This,  however,  is  not  to  take  ground  that  the  teacher 
may  evince  a  stolid  unconcern  as  to  the  conduct  of 
his  pupils  elsewhere  than  within  the  precincts  or  the 
periods  of  the  school ;  nor  is  it  taking  from  him  the 
power  to  do  anything  outside  of  those  limits,  to  ef- 
fectively subserve  the  pupil's  welfare  and  the  ends  of 
good  order.  As  a  citizen  and  as  a  friend,  he  may,  so 
far  as  he  can,  keep  a  kindly  and  careful  eye  upon  the 
pupil's  conduct  during  the  periods  of  transition  from 
the  home  to  the  school,  and  vice  versay  and  may  exert 
all  his  influence  to  prevent  the  occurrence  of  offences, 
or  to  secure  atonement  for  them  ;  but  it  is  influence 
which  he  is  to  exert,  and  not  authority.  And  not 
only  may  he  do  much  in  this  way ;  but  it  is  believed 
that  the  very  regard  which  he  thus  evinces  for  the 
rights  of  relative  jurisdiction  will  add  weight  to  his 
influence,  and  secure  in  the  end  better  results  than 
would  be  possible  under  what  must  necessarily  be  an 
arbitrary  exercise  of  power. 

This,  however,  must  not  be  construed  in  any 
sense,  as  ignoring  the  possibility  of  exceptional  cases. 
For  example,  flagrant  outbreaks  of  injurious  violence 
for  which  there  is  no  parental  preventive  or  correc- 
tion, may  come  to  the  immediate  notice  of  the  teacher. 
Here  it  may  be  necessary  for  him  to  interfere,  and 
the  interference  may  be  justified  on  the  ground  that 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :    REQUIREMENT.  137 

arbitrary  rule  is  better  than  licentiousness.  So,  too, 
cases  may  occur  in  which  evil-disposed  pupils  may 
avowedly  take  advantage  of  the  supposed  absence  of 
jurisdiction,  to  do  after  school,  what  the  teacher  has 
forbidden  in  school.  In  this  case,  the  teacher  may 
take  cognizance  of  the  act  as  an  insolent  evasion 
equivalent  to  quasi  insubordination.  The  case  some- 
times cited,  of  a  pupil's  playing  by  the  way,  and  so 
becoming  late  to  the  detriment  of  the  school  order, 
is  not  properly  an  exception ;  for  while  the  teacher 
may  not  claim  jurisdiction  over  the  act  of  loitering 
which  was  the  major  fault,  the  tardiness  itself  is  an 
immediate  and  legitimate  occasion  for  discipline. 
The  distinction  and  the  method  involved  in  this  case, 
will  be  found  applicable  in  many  others,  and  their 
proper  application  will  enable  the  teacher  to  avoid 
the  two  injurious  extremes  of  arbitrary  jurisdiction 
and  allowed  disorder. 

Having  thus  denned  the  proper  limits  of  require- 
ment as  a  department  of  the  school  government,  we 
pass  to  the  consideration  of  its  general  characteristics. 
These  may  be  enumerated  as  chiefly  four ;  Moderate- 
ness, Naturalness,  Fairness,  and  Firmness. 

The  propriety  of  these  characteristics,  especially 
as  determined  by  the  traits  of  the  child's  nature  as 
subject  to  the  government  of  the  school,  has  been 
partially  considered  under  a  previous  head.  It  is, 
therefore,  only  necessary  that  they  should  be  briefly 
noticed  here  and  more  especially  with  reference  to 
their  bearing  on  the  government  in  itself  considered 

By  moderateness  in  requirement,  we  mean  that  the 


138  BCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

teacher  should,  in  all  his  demands  upon  the  pupil  as 
subject  to  moral  obligation,  study  to  avoid  severity  or 
excess.  It  is  better  policy  for  him  to  fall  somewhat 
under  the  full  measure  of  exact  requirement,  than  to 
incur  any  risk  of  overgoing  it.  Aside  from  lenient 
adaptation  to  the  child's  feebleness  or  imperfection, 
it  is  far  easier  to  secure  the  perfect  enforcement  of 
moderate  demands,  or  if  need  be,  to  bring  them  up 
•to  the  full  standard  of  just  requisition,  than  it  is  to 
maintain  those  which  have  be  on  strained  at  the  out- 
set, to  their  farthest  limit,  or  to  abate  successfully 
those  which  have  been  found  to  be  excessive.  In 
school  government,  as  in  every  other,  practical  excel- 
lence is  to  be  determined,  not  so  much  by  the  abso- 
lute perfection  of  the  laws,  as  by  their  capacity  to  be 
perfectly  administered. 

By  naturalness  in  requirement,  we  mean,  not  so 
much  naturalness  in  the  demands  themselves,  as  in 
the  method  of  their  successive  development.  It  is 
here  considered  as  tantamount  to  that  progressive- 
ness  in  school  legislation,  which  has  been  elsewhere 
noticed.  The  ground  consequently  taken,  is  that  of 
the  inexpediency  of  pre-enacted  codes  of  requisitions, 
or  laws  for  the  moral  government  of  the  school.  And 
this,  for  the  general  reason  that  no  such  code  can  be 
made  for  any  commonwealth,  as  it  were  to  order, 
and  be  either  wise  or  just.  Law  for  the  government 
of  any  community,  has  its  grand  principles  which  are 
co-existent  with  the  possibility  of  a  community.  But 
beyond  those  principles,  law  is  the  creature  of  the 
common  need ;  and  what  that  need  is  can  only  bo 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :    EEQUIBEMENT.  139 

determined  by  the  developing  power  of  circumstances. 
Hence,  ail  specific  laws  should  be,  as  it  were,  the  nat- 
ural growth  of  circumstances.  So  in  the  government 
of  the  school,  specific  rules,  to  have  a  natural  origin, 
fitness,  and  power,  should  be  made,  only  as  facts  de- 
velop a  need  for  them.  Let  the  teacher  pursue  the 
'opposite  course,  and  lie  will  burden  his  system  of 
discipline  \utli  minute  and  ill-digested  provisions, 
many  of  which  he  will  either  have  to  repeal  or  violate 
as  unreasonable  or  oppressive.  This,  however,  is  not 
to  be  interpreted  as  contravening  the  careful  promul- 
gation of  general  principles,  elsewhere  urged  as  ne- 
cessary. 

Beyond  this,  it  is  demanded  that  the  teacher's  re- 
quisitions in  governing  be  thoroughly  fair  or  honest. 
By  this  we  mean,  first,  that  all  the  means  and  ends 
of  the  requirement  should  be  transparently  what  they 
purport  to  be.  No  subject  of  the  school  government 
should  ever  have  occasion  to  suspect  that  he  has 
been  misled  or  overreached  by  policy  or  artifice. 
Any  such  impression  will  prove  destructive  to  his 
confidence  in  the  teacher,  and  respect  for  him  ;  and 
when  those  are  wanting,  authority  may  compel  sub- 
mission, but  it  cannot  command  true  obedience. 
Again,  the  requirement  should  be  explicit  so  as  to 
be  beyond  the  possibility  of  misconception.  Pains 
should  be  taken,  not  only  to  unfold  the  demand  fully 
and  fairly,  but  also  to  ascertain  whether  it  has  been 
as  fully  and  fairly  understood.  The  government 
which,  failing  in  this  direction,  exposes  the  pupil  to 
unwitting  transgression,  stands  itself  impeached  as 


140  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

first  in  the  fault.  Still  further,  there  should  be  no 
sudden  revival  and  application  of  rules  which,  having 
lain  dormant  or  lacked  recent  use,  have  passed  out 
of  the  pupil's  mind,  or  have  been  practically  accepted 
by  him,  as  inoperative.  All  such  action  will  assume 
the  aspect  of  ex  post  facto  legislation,  and  will  appear, 
if  it  is  not  even  what  it  appears,  narrow  and  unjust. 
The  government  of  the  school  must  then  in  all  its  re- 
quirements, be  thoroughly  frank  and  fair. 

The  presence  of  the  foregoing  qualities  in  the 
school  government,  it  will  be  seen,  prepares  the  way 
for  the  existence  of  that  firmness  without  which  it 
hardly  deserves  the  name  of  government.  Given, 
requirements  which  are  moderate,  the  product  of  a 
natural  want,  and  thoroughly  sincere  and  fair,  and 
the  teacher  may  press  the  demand  for  obedience,  with 
the  most  inflexible  firmness.  Nay,  in  such  a  case,  the 
greater,  the  more  stubborn,  the  firmness,  if  we  may  so 
speak,  the  higher  the  rectitude  of  the  school  govern- 
ment, and  the  more  absolute  its  claim  to  obedient  re- 
gard. It  is  in  the  power  of  this  unalterable  firmness 
to  dignify  even  the  dying  struggles  of  a  bad  cause. 
Much  more  is  it  able  to  gather  about  the  upright 
front  of  righteous  rule,  the  radiant  symbol  of  divine 
excellence.  Not  only,  then,  for  the  pupil's  sake,  as 
has  elsewhere  been  urged,  but  for  its  own,  let  the 
government  of  the  school,  in  the  firmness  of  its  re- 
quirements, be 

"  Constant  as  the  northern  star, 
Of  whose  true-fixed  and  resting  quality 
There  is  no  fellow  in  the  firmament." 


OHAPTEE    VIII. 

GENERAL  ELEMENTS  CONTINUED.    DISCIPLINE — JUDGMENT. 


Judgment  defined — Importance  considered —Elements  classified,  as  De- 
tection, Investigation,  Judgment  Proper  or  Decision — Detection  dis- 
tinguished and  classified,  as  Spontaneous,  or  Immediate  and  Mediate, 
or  Circumstantial— Kinds  distinguished — Spontaneous  detection  jus- 
tified— Its  rules  stated— Exery  offense  not  to  be  known — Knowledge  of 
offenses,  not  always  to  be  betrayed — Offenses  to  receive  the  most 
favorable  construction  —  Mediate  detection  classified,  as  Incidental  and 
Concerted — Importance  of  the  latter — Especial  difficulty  arising  from 
the  school  code  of  honor — Folly  of  condemning  the  code  summarily — 
Course  to  be  pursued — Pupils  must  be  taught  right  views — Severer  pun- 
ishment in  case  of  conspiracy  to  conceal — Rules  for  concerted  detection 
— Must  be  the  sole  means  of  discover}' — Offenses  must  be  of  a  flagrant 
character — Detection  must  be  prosecuted  for  no  inferior  or  private 
ends — Grounds  of  consistency — Detection  demanded  for  the  general 
safety— The  offense  is  necessarily  covert— It  is  one  of  practical  out- 
lawry— Method  to  be  pursued — Detection  should  be  devolved  on  a  sub- 
ordinate agent — Propriety  of  setting  a  trap  for  offenders — Caution 
against  seeking  personal  ends — Against  the  use  of  positive  deception 
— Against  undue  exposure  of  the  innocent — Objection  to  the  use  of 
temptation  answered — Investigation  described — Importance  of  investi- 
gation— Need  of  attention  to  practical  logic — Logical  process  in  inves- 
tigation considered — Evidence  classified,  as  Personal  and  Circumstan- 
tial—  Kinds  distinguished  and  illustrated  —  Testimony  the  chief 
reliance — Confession  by  stratagem  unwarrantable — Practically  dishonest 
— Impairs  the  teacher's  self-respect  —  Demoralizing  to  the  pupil — 
Particular  caution  as  to  the  evidence  of  personal  appearance — Requi- 
sites in  witnesses — Opportunity,  direct  knowledge,  capacity,  veracity, 
freedom  from  prejudice— Caution  as  to  the  testimony  of  children — 
Kinds  of  testimony — Simple,  Accumulated  and  Concurrent — Defined — 
General  characteristics  of  testimony — Must  be  definite,  accumulative, 
concurrent — Grounds  of  strength  in  concurrent  testimony — Logical  and 


142  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

practical  illustration — Decision  —  Defined  —  Characteristics — Must  be 
positive,  overt,  explicit — General  characteristics  <f  judgment—  Must  be 
deliberate,  comprehensive,  righteous  and  decisive — Popular  decisions 
in  the  school  condemned. 

Passing  now  to  the  second  general  element  in  the 
discipline  of  the  school,  we  observe,  that  under  the 
head  of  judgment,  must  be  included  whatever  be- 
longs to  the  decision  of  cases  involving  discipline. 

The  importance  of  this  element  will  be  readily  in- 
ferred from  the  fact  that,  not  only  does  the  influence 
and  success  of  the  discipline  depend  on  its  proper 
performance,  but,  without  its  antecedence,  no  disci- 
pline in  any  just  sense,  is  practicable.  In  fact,  this 
judgment  bears  much  the  same  relation  to  the  correc- 
tion of  wrong,  that  the  diagnosis  of  a  disease,  in 
medicine,  bears  to  the  subsequent  treatment.  De- 
pending upon  shrewd  intuition  and  well-defined  ex- 
perience, rather  than  upon  rules  and  authorities,  that 
diagnosis  is  the  work  of  the  physician, — the  work 
which  most  tries  and  evinces  his  skill.  Indeed,  the 
measure  of  diagnostic  accuracy  is  the  measure  of  suc- 
cess in  the  treatment.  So,  we  may  say,  the  proper 
judgment  of  the  case  in  discipline  determines  quite  as 
fully  the  course  of  the  subsequent  correction  ;  and  as 
such,  it  is  one  of  the  highest  and  most  important 
elements  of  the  teacher's  art  of  governing. 

The  elements  of  judgment  may  be  classified  as 
threefold  ;  Detection,  Investigation,  and  Judgment 
Proper,  or  Decision. 

Of  these,  first,  detection  is  simply  the  discovery, 
by  the  teacher,  of  offenses  and  offenders.     It  may  be 


GENEEAL  ELEMENTS:   DETECTION.  143 

of  two  general  kinds ;  namely,  Spontaneous  or  Imme- 
diate ;  and  Mediate,  or  Circumstantial.  In  the  former, 
the  teacher  comes  to  a  knowledge  of  the  offense  and 
the  offender,  personally  and  directly,  through  the  ex- 
ercise of  mere  ordinary  vigilance  in  observing  the 
operations  of  the  school :  he  spontaneously  witnesses 
the  original  act  himself.  In  the  latter  species  of  de- 
tection, the  teacher  either  alone  or  through  his 
agents,  in  the  exercise  of  some  extraordinary  scru- 
tiny, reaches  a  satisfactory  knowledge  of  such  related 
circumstances  as,  to  a  practical  certainty,  fix  the 
offense  upon  the  offender.  This  involves  the  employ- 
ment of  circumstantial  evidence.  It  differs  from  in- 
vestigation, to  which  it  is  nearly  related,  in  the  fact 
that  it  stops  short  of  any  open  inquiry  and  public 
measures,  and,  hence,  in  its  operations  and  results, 
may  be  wholly  unknown  to  the  school. 

Of  the  propriety  and  importance  of  spontaneous 
detection,  there  can  be  no  question.  It  is  clearly 
the  duty  of  the  teacher  to  be  always  in  a  position  of 
discovery.  It  is  necessary  that  he  should  have  some 
correct  knowledge  of  so  much  of  whatever  transpires 
in  his  little  commonwealth,  in  the  shape  of  responsi- 
ble action,  as  will  enable  him  to  understand  fully  the 
general  drift  of  conduct  in  the  school,  and  will  thus 
fully  empower  him  to  make  proper  preparation  for 
possible  emergencies,  and  to  wisely  select  for  disci- 
pline, such  offenses  as  may  have  a  noticeablo  bearing 
on  the  general  welfare. 

This,  however,  is  not  to  take  ground  that  the  teacher 
is  to  be  suspiciously  on  the  alert,  or  always  watching 


14:4  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

for  the  occurrence  of  offenses.  This  is  to  be  vigilant 
at  the  expense  of  some  of  the  finest  qualities  of  his 
true  character,  almost  at  the  expense  of  his  manhood. 
Such  a  suspiciousness  the  teacher  is,  by  all  means, 
to  avoid.  It  is  a  vice  of  weak  minds  and  weaker 
governments. 

Hence,  let  the  teacher  carefully  observe  the  fol- 
lowing rules  as  bearing  on  spontaneous  detection. 
First.  It  is.  neither  necessary  nor  wise  for  him  to 
know  all  the  minor  misdemeanors,  or  peccadilloes  of 
his  reckless,  unthinking,  and  ill-trained  subjects,  es- 
pecially those  of  the  younger  class.  A  knowledge 
thus  minute,  will  only  tend  to  impair  his  confidence 
in  his  pupils,  and  may  thus  induce  in  him  a  con- 
sciousness of  evil  character  and  conduct,  calculated 
to  affect  his  manner  unfavorably,  perhaps  even  to  the 
extent  of  impairing  their  confidence  in  him. 

Secondly.  Even  if  he  knows  so  much,  it  is  all  im- 
portant that  he  should  not  evince  his  knowledge  of 
it.  To  do  this  is  practically  to  compel  himself  to 
take  judicial  cognizance  of  the  offenses  involved,  since 
hardly  anything  can  be  more  demoralizing  in  its  in- 
fluence upon  the  moral  sense  of  a  school  than  a 
teacher's  evident  neglect  of  known  infractions  of  law. 
And  yet,  as  many  of  these  offenses  may  be  altogether 
venial  and  quite  destitute  of  any  important  bearing 
on  the  general  order  of  the  school,  for  the  teacher  to 
subject  them  to  discipline,  would  only  be  to  harrass 
himself  and  his  pupils  with  an  over  government 
hardly  less  injurious  than  insufficient  government. 
For  a  teacher  to  do  this,  "  is  wasteful  and  ridiculous 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  DETECTION.  145 

excess."  Of  either  extreme,  it  is  better  to  govern 
too  little  than  too  much.  Except  in  the  family,  no- 
where more  than  in  the  government  of  the  school,  is 
there  need  of  that  noble  charity  which  covers  a  mul- 
titude of  sins, — nowhere  so  much  advantage  in  its 
wise  and  patient  exercise. 

And,  lastly,  with  reference  to  all  facts  which,  as 
ostensible  misdemeanors,  really  come  to  his  knowl- 
edge, let  the  teacher,  while  retaining  them  in  thought, 
as  possibly  susceptible  of  grave  but  yet  undiscovered 
relations,  carefully  guard  against  assuming  their 
worst  interpretation  as  a  foregone  conclusion.  Let 
him  rather,  habitually  assume  the  probability  of  a 
fairer  explanation,  and  generously  hold  to  that  opin- 
ion until  it  is,  by  subsequent  developments,  rendered 
either  dangerous  or  impossible  to  do  so. 

Passing  to  mediate,  or  circumstantial  detection, 
which  has  already  been  defined,  it  may  be  classified 
as  of  two  species ;  namely,  incidental  and  concerted 
detection.  These  rest  alike  on  the  same  basis  of  ob- 
served facts,  but  differ  in  the  manner  of  reaching  the 
facts.  As  is  indicated  by  their  names,  the  circum- 
stances involving  detection  under  the  former  species, 
come  to  light  of  their  own  accord,  in  the  teacher's 
exercise  of  ordinary  watchfulness,  and  are  only  volun- 
tarily woven,  in  his  judgment,  into  a  web  of  satis- 
factory evidence  :  under  the  latter  species,  they  are, 
upon  pre-determination  and  by  concerted  action, 
dragged  from  their  concealment  and  set  in  such 
array  as  effects  full  detection. 

Of  the  former  species,  nothing  further  need  be 


14:6  SCHOOL   GOVERNMENT. 

urged  in  this  place,  since  its  specific  laws  are  the 
same  with  those  already  considered  under  the  head 
of  spontaneous  detection.  Of  the  latter,  distinct  and 
thorough  notice  must  be  taken  both  for  the  reason 
that  it  is  more  complicated  in  its  nature,  and  far 
more  difficult  in  its  proper  exercise.  Indeed,  in  the 
pre-determined  exercise  of  the  function  of  detection, 
the  teacher  will  find  occasion  for  the  employment  of 
his  largest  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  his  high- 
est skill  in  dealing  with  character  and  circumstance. 
Instances  will  not  unfrequently  occur,  which  will,  for 
a  time,  perhaps  even  finally,  baffle  his  most  strenuous 
efforts. 

A  special  cause  for  this  difficulty  is  often  met  with 
in  the  prevalence  of  a  false  sense  of  honor  among 
pupils,  which  leads  them  to  conceal  the  misdeeds  of 
their  associates.  Sometimes,  even  where  there  is  a 
better  conception  of  duty,  native  lack  of  resolution, 
or  fear  of  retaliatory  abuse,  strengthens  the  tendency 
to  connivance  or  concealment.  In  this  forced  absence 
of  the  only  direct  testimony  possible,  the  teacher  is 
left  altogether  to  circumstantial  indications  or  the 
developments  of  time,  and  will  not  unlikely  find  even 
these  insufficient. 

In  cases  of  this  kind,  it  is  altogether  idle  for  the 
teacher  to  take  ground  before  the  school,  that  this 
concealment  is  a  wrong,  and  to  insist  that  those  cog- 
nizant of  the  offender's  criminality  shall  expose  him ; 
and  it  is  the  height  of  impolicy  for  him  to  betray  any 
uneasiness  or  irritation  (if  he  be  indeed  so  weak  as 
to  allow  such  feeling)  at  the  persistent  adhesion  of 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  DETECTION.        147 

the  pupils  to  the  school  code  of  honor.  Nor  does 
the  fact  that  there  can  be  no  more  question  as  to  the 
pupil's  duty  in  the  premises,  than  there  is  in  the  case 
of  the  citizen  cognizant  of  crime  committed  against 
the  laws  of  the  state,  mend  the  matter.  The  evil  is 
the  result  of  a  misguided  conscience ;  and,  until  the 
teacher  can  correct  the  misguiding  cause,  he  must 
be  content  with  the  exercise  of  patience  rather  than 
justice. 

In  endeavoring  to  correct  this  evil  tendency  to 
shield  offenders  from  justice,  the  teacher  may  adopt 
two  methods.  First.  He  may  labor  to  impress  upon 
his  pupils  correct  views  of  their  relation  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  school,  and  a  sense  of  their  duty  to 
sustain  its  authority  as  superior  to  any  possible  con- 
sideration due  to  their  delinquent  companions.  Gen- 
erously excusing  concealment  in  the  case  of  a  first 
transgression,  in  which  the  witnesses  have  given  the 
culprits  no  warning  of  the  course  that  must  conscien- 
tiously be  pursued,  he  may  urge  it  as  due  to  their 
own  manly  courage,  moral  honesty,  and  just  convic- 
tions of  the  general  necessity,  that,  on  any  proposed 
repetition  of  the  offense,  they  shall  hold  themselves 
absolved  from  all  duty  to  become  particeps  criminis 
by  shielding  wilful  offenders,  and  shall  give  tho 
same,  unmistakable  assurance  that  they  will  be  de- 
nounced as  such  without  fear  or  favor. 

In  the  second  place,  in  all  such  cases  of  conceal- 
ment of  flagrant  offenses  which  ultimately  come  to 
light  so  as  to  admit  of  correction,  the  teacher  may, 
upon  previous  announcement,  punish  the  offenders 


148  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

with  the  greater  severity,  on  the  ground  of  having 
not  only  transgressed,  but  also  of  having  insti- 
tuted a  conspiracy  against  the  order  of  the  school. 
He  should  also,  by  a  distinct  withdrawal  of  confi- 
dence from  the  accessories,  until  their  future  amend- 
ment becomes  probable,  indicate  his  sense  of  their 
practical  disloyalty  and  partial  guilt.  This  course, 
if  frankly  explained  and  firmly  pursued,  will  tend  to 
produce  better  views  and  feelings  in  the  school, 
with  regard  to  the  whole  question,  and  it  gives  the 
only  promise  of  any  ultimate  removal  of  the  evil 
under  consideration. 

It  has  already  been  observed  that  no  question  can 
be  raised  as  to  the  consistency  of  spontaneous,  or  in- 
cidental detection.  With  regard  to  pre-determined, 
or  concerted  detection,  the  case  is  different.  Involv- 
ing the  exercise  of  extraordinary  scrutiny,  extending 
perhaps  beyonds  the  periods  and  precincts  of  the 
school,  and  even  involving  a  species  of  espionage,  it 
is  of  a  more  serious  character,  and  not  unfrequently 
gives  rise  to  grave  and  anxious  questionings  La  the 
minds  of  earnest  and  conscientious  teachers.  The 
position  is,  nevertheless,  here  squarely  taken,  that 
within  certain  limits,  this  species  of  detection  is  thor- 
oughly legitimate  and  necessary. 

The  restrictions  to  which  its  use  must  be  subjected 
are  these.  First.  It  must  be  resorted  to,  only  in 
those  cases  in  which  detection  is  in  no  other  way 
possible.  Detection  itself  may  be  a  necessity ;  and, 
while  we  may  not  accept  the  maxim ;  "  Necessity 
knows  no  law,"  we  must  urge  that,  as  a  general  prin- 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:  DETECTION.  149 

ciple,  necessity  must  be  a  law  unto  itself.  Hence, 
that  detection  cannot  be  a  necessity  to  the  welfare  of 
the  school,  without  involving  the  means  necessary  to 
its  accomplishment. 

Secondly.  The  misdemeanor  must  be  one  of  a  pos- 
itive and  flagrant  character.  It  must  be  of  the  nature 
of  actual  vice  or  crime,  and  must  be  clearly  demoral- 
izing in  its  influence  upon  the  school.  No  mere  pec- 
cadillo involving  the  simple  occasioning  of  disorder, 
or  only  productive  of  individual  annoyance,  can  be  a 
sufficient  warrant.  Grave  measures  are  to  be  insti- 
tuted that  can  only  be  countenanced  by  grave  offen- 
ses. Of  this  class  of  misdemeanors,  perhaps  the  best 
illustration  is  to  be  found  in  that,  sometimes  petty, 
sometimes  serious  theft  so  painfully  common  in  cer- 
tain kinds  of  schools.  Not  only  is  it  illustrative  of 
the  criminalty  referred  to,  but  also  of  the  difficulty 
of  detection  specified  under  the  previous  head.  Often 
the  vice  of  pupils  from  the  better  families,  and  the 
direct  product  of  the  prevailing  social  extravagance 
and  home  indulgence ;  infecting  not  only  boys,  but, 
sad  to  say,  an  older  class  of  girls,  who  are  even  worse 
than  boys,  it  is  by  the  very  force  of  family  pride,  the 
more  studiously  concealed  in  its  perpetration,  and 
the  more  dangerous  to  the  teacher  in  his  efforts  at 
detection, — so  dangerous  that  its  occurrence  and  ex- 
posure are  alike  his  terror. 

Thirdly.  The  detection  of  such  offenses  must  be 
solely  and  sincerely  prosecuted  for  no  inferior  or  pri- 
vate ends,  but  only  for  the  sake  of  the  general  wel- 
fare.    It  must  also  be  carefully  guarded  so  as  to  touch 


150  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

for  the  sake  of  discipline,  only  the  actual  culprit. 
For  reasons  which  will  appear  as  we  advance,  others 
who  may  possibly  become  involved  in  its  disclosures 
should  be  proceeded  with,  only  in  the  way  of  salutary 
instruction  and  warning. 

Applied  within  these  limits,  the  considerations 
which  establish  the  propriety  of  this  concerted  detec- 
tion, are  brief  and  positive.  First.  The  moral  or 
organic  welfare  of  the  school  is  of  paramount  impor- 
tance. Crimes  so  demoralizing  can  not  be  tolerated, 
and  the  teacher  is  set  forth  "  for  the  punishment  of 
evil  doers"  no  less  than  "  for  the  praise  of  them  that 
do  well."  Hence,  cost  what  it  may ;  strike  whom  it 
will,  the  detection  of  the  offender  is  no  matter  of  mere 
option ;  it  is  imperative. 

Secondly.  The  offense  is  necessarily  covert,  and 
as  such,  admits  of  no  other  species  of  detection. 
But  it  is  a  recognized  principle  in  criminal  law  that 
the  capacity  of  a  crime  to  be  concealed  so  that  detec- 
tion becomes  difficult  or  next  to  impossible,  aggra- 
vates its  character,  and  justly  operates  to  enhance 
the  penalty.  This  is  founded  on  the  fact  that,  while 
not  intrinsically  worse  than  others,  it  is  vastly  more 
dangerous  to  society.  But  it  is  clear  that  this  very 
accession  to  its  dangerous  character,  renders  the  de- 
mand for  detection  the  more  pressing,  and  justifies 
all  means  really  necessary  to  that  end. 

Lastly.  The  act  of  the  offender  is  one  of  practical 
outlawry.  In  its  commission,  he  puts  himself  beyond 
any  claim  upon  the  school  government,  other  than 
that  of  strict  justice,  of  which  the  first  element  must 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:    DETECTION.  151 

be  his  own  clear  exposure.  Besides  this,  whatever 
means  of  detection  may  be  employed,  the  culprit  has 
no  right  to  complain  of  them.  In  the  case  supposed, 
were  he  seized  under  the  criminal  laws  of  the  state, 
his  punishment  would  be  condign.  But  under  the 
government  of  the  school,  nothing  farther  than  ex- 
clusion is  proposed.  The  detection  that  seeks  ends 
thus  lenient,  takes  its  measure  somewhat  from  the 
limit  within  which  it  contents  itself. 

With  reference  now  to  the  means  which  may  be  em- 
ployed, two  questions  arise.  Frst.  May  the  teacher 
institute  a  course  of  espionage,  or  himself  act  the  part 
of  a  spy  ?  So  far  as  the  mere  effort  at  detection  is 
concerned,  undoubtedly.  But  if  there  be  taken  into 
consideration,  the  probable  influence  of  such  an 
office-work  to  induce  a  biassed  judgment  or  a  sus- 
picious temper,  the  wisdom  of  his  undertaking  it  him- 
self may  be  questioned.  It  is  of  the  first  importance 
that,  as  having  ultimately  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the 
offense,  the  teacher  should  be  kept  free  from  all  such 
biassing  influences.  A  mere  detective  habitually 
assumes  the  guilt  of  the  alleged  offender.  The  con- 
trary course  is  imperative  on  the  teacher.  Besides, 
as  has  already  been  suggested,  a  suspicious  habit  is, 
in  his  case,  almost  a  vice.  Hence,  it  will  be  far  bet- 
ter for  him,  wherever  it  may  be  practicable,  to  em- 
ploy some  other  person  as  his  agent  in  this  species  of 
detection.  If,  for  example,  he  has  reliable  subordi- 
nates, let  that  work  be  devolved  Upon  them.  And 
this,  not  at  all  that  he  may  escape  a  painful  office- 
work,  but  because  they  are  not  involved  in  the  ulti- 


152  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

mate  responsibility  of  judgment ;  their  state  of  mind 
is  by  no  means  vitally  important  in  its  bearing  on  the 
issues  of  justice  ;  and  they  are  not  exposed  to  its 
more  dangerous  reactions. 

Secondly.  May  the  teacher  provide  an  occasion 
for  the  repetition  of  the  act,  under  proper  observa- 
tion ;  in  other  words,  may  he  set  a  trap  for  the  of- 
fender ?  We  answer,  certainly,  provided  in  the  first 
place,  he  seeks  the  detection  of  the  guilty,  solely  for 
his  reclamation,  or  for  the  expurgation  of  the  school. 

Provided,  further,  he  carefully  guards  himself 
against  positive  deception  or  falsehood  either  overt  or 
covert.  In  yielding  to  evil  desires,  the  pupil  may 
deceive  himself  as  to  the  facts  involving  his  detection  ; 
but  the  deception  must  be  his  own  work,  not  that 
of  the  teacher.  For  example,  the  teacher  may  leave 
a  coveted  book,  or  a  reticule  containing  valuables,  in 
the  way  of  the  supposed  thief.  The  fancy  of  the  of- 
fender that  he  is  not  observed  is  his  own.  He  has 
had  no  assurance  that  he  will  not  be  watched ;  nay, 
he  is  to  expect  that  sooner  or  later  he  will  be  dis- 
covered ;  his  own  caution  is  a  confession  of  the  pos- 
sible danger  ;  hence,  he  is  only  self-deceived. 

Provided  again,  lastly,  that  the  teacher  takes  all 
possible  care  to  avoid  exposing  the  innocent  to  this 
temptation ;  or  if  they  chance  to  be  overcome  of  it, 
that  he  distinguishes  the  act  carefully  as  a  first  and 
induced  offense,  and  makes  use  of  it  only  for  their 
salvation  from  further  transgression. 

"  But,"  says  the  objector,  "  this  is  putting  tempta- 
tion in  the  way  of  others."     To  this  we  reply,  first,  the 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:   DETECTION.  153 

teacher  has  the  right,  as  in  the  case  supposed,  to  put 
any  such  articles  where  he  chooses.  The  school- 
room is  his  proper  domain,  and  property  is  presumed 
to  be  justly  safe  anywhere  within  the  school  precincts. 
Again,  the  real  temptation  lies  in  the  depraved  pro- 
pensity of  the  offender;  "He  is  drawn  away  of  his 
own  lust  and  enticed."  Still  further,  the  induced  act, 
as  leading  to  his  detection,  is  the  only  means  of  rous- 
ing him;  before  some  final  and  fatal  crime,  to  a  sense 
of  the  peril  and  certain  ruin  of  the  course  he  is  pur- 
suing ;  it  is  the  only  hope  of  his  salvation.  Once 
more,  even  in  the  case  of  the  innocent,  much  the 
same  is  true.  If  he  can  yield  so  easily  to  the  com- 
mission of  crime,  his  only  safety  lies  in  the  prompt 
discovery  of  this  liability,  and  the  consequent  coun- 
sel and  warning  made  possible  through  it.  And, 
lastly,  it  is  quite  clear  that  temptation  is  not  neces- 
sarily an  evil.  "  Temptations,"  says  Bishop  Butler, 
"  render  our  state  a  more  improving  state  of  disci- 
pline than  it  would  be  otherwise  ;  as  they  give  occa- 
sion for  a  more  attentive  exercise  of  the  virtuous 
principle,  which  confirms  and  strengthens  it  more 
than  an  easier  or  less  attentive  exercise  of  it  could." 
Were  this  otherwise,  and  temptation  intrinsically  a 
wrong,  then  the  trial  of  our  First  Parents  in  the  gar- 
den of  Eden,  which  was  practically  just  as  much  a 
temptation  as  any  of  the  acts  heretofore  supposed, 
would  stand  utterly  reprehended  as  evil  and  ma- 
licious. 

Passing  now  to  the  second  general  element  in  judg- 
ment ;  namely,  investigation,  we  observe  that  it  is  in- 


154  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

elusive  of  all  that  formal  examination  of  the  truth  of 
facts  bearing  upon  any  supposed  case  of  discipline, 
either  as  determinative  of  its  actuality  or  its  relative 
demerit.  It  will  be  seen  from  this,  that  it  differs 
from  detection,  in  being  always  premeditated,  but 
without  involving  any  concerted  scheme  of  forced  dis- 
covery ;  it  applies  to  cases  in  which  a  partial  detec- 
tion is  already  attained,  which  however  needs  to  be 
tested  and  made  complete  ;  it  is  formal  and  open  in 
all  its  processes  ;  and  it  attains  its  ends  only  through 
logical  conclusions  resting  altogether  on  the  basis  of 
evidence. 

These  characteristics  of  investigation,  and  the  evi- 
dent difficulty  to  be  experienced  in  determining, 
through  a  logical  process,  both  the  actuality  of  the 
offense  and  its  relative  demerit,  are  at  once  sugges- 
tive of  the  extreme  importance  to  be  attached  to  this 
part  of  discipline.  Were  not  this  enough,  a  simple 
reference  to  the  laws  and  usages  of  civil  courts  would 
argue  the  same.  All  this  array  of  witnesses  and  jury- 
men ;  all  this  careful  educing  and  sifting  of  testimony ; 
all  these  elaborate  reasonings  upon  the  evidence,  and 
all  this  patient  deliberation  upon  the  whole  case 
preparatory  to  the  rendering  of  a  verdict,  are  so  many 
grave  indications  of  the  importance  to  be  everywhere 
attached  to  the  proper  investigation  of  offenses. 
While  the  extrinsic  interest  may  be  the  more  pressing 
in  the  applications  of  civil  government,  the  intrinsic 
importance  to  the  school,  of  well-guarded  and  certain 
decisions  under  its  government,  cannot  be  overesti- 
mated.    In  the  state,  an  erroneous  decision  is  inju- 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:   INVESTIGATION.  155 

rious ;  in  the  school,  from  the  comparative  helpless- 
ness of  its  subjects,  a  false  judgment  is  tyranny. 

From  this,  it  follows  that  inasmuch  as,  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  school  government,  the  teacher  must 
be  sole  jury  and  judge  ;  and  inasmuch  as  he  be- 
comes himself  an  offender  if  he  trusts  to  the  blind 
guidance  of  mere  impressions,  or  the  doubtful  reason- 
ings of  a  crude  understanding,  it  becomes  imperative 
on  him  to  possess  some  consistent  knowledge  of  prac- 
tical logic,  at  least  so  far  as  it  involves  a  knowledge 
of  the  laws  of  evidence  and  the  deduction  of  sound 
conclusions.  Hence,  not  only  should  a  specific  train- 
ing in  this  direction  be  afforded  to  the  teacher,  by  our 
normal  schools,  but  a  concise  treatise  on  evidence 
should  be  regarded  by  him  as  an  indispensable  part 
of  his  library.  And  this  is  the  more  imperative,  from 
the  fact  that  throughout  the  community,  so  many 
evils  result  from  the  prevailing  ignorance  of  the  very 
knowledge  to  be  derived  from  such  works.  What 
those  evils  are,  is  patent  to  every  one  conversant  with 
the  proceedings  of  our  civil,  and  especially  our  eccle- 
siastical courts. 

As  has  been  already  intimated,  investigation,  or 
judgment  proper,  involves  a  logical  process.  In  fact, 
in  every  such  case  of  discipline,  the  teacher  has  be- 
fore him  the  proper  consideration  of  the  disjunctive 
proposition ;  "  Either  A  is  innocent  or  he  is  guilty" 
which  proposition  we  have  taken  express  pains  to 
state,  so  that  it  shall  conform  to  that  necessary  and 
noble  maxim ;  "  Every  man  should  be  presumed  to  be 
innocent  until  he  is  proven  to  be  guilty,"  since,  above 


156  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

all  other  adjudicators,  the  teacher  should  be  most 
mindful  of  its  observance. 

The  evidence  upon  which  the  teacher  is  to  rely  in 
the  solution  of  this  proposition,  is  two-fold :  Personal 
Evidence,  or  Testimony,  and  Circumstantial  Evidence. 

Personal  evidence,  or  testimony  proper,  as  employ- 
ed by  the  teacher,  must  be  understood  in  a  restricted 
sense,  and  as  embracing  only  the  statements  made 
with  Reference  to  the  offense  itself,  by  his  pupils  or 
others,  claiming  to  have  a  direct  personal  knowledge 
of  its  occurrence  or  non-occurrence.  This  is  evidence 
direct  and  positive. 

Circumstantial  evidence,  as  employed  by  the  teacher, 
embraces  the  statements  made  by  his  pupils  or  others, 
with  reference  to  such  remoter  facts  as  do  not  involve 
a  direct  knowledge  of  the  offense  itself,  but  which  are, 
in  the  nature  of  things,  related  to  it,  and  which  so 
concur  in  their  relation  to  it,  as  to  find  their  best,  or 
their  only  explanation  in  either  its  reality  or  non-re- 
ality. This  evidence  is  indirect,  and  may  be  either 
corroborative,  or,  in  itself,  sufficient.  It  is,  however, 
not  to  be  accepted  as  positive  evidence. 

To  illustrate  this,  let  X  be  charged  with  cutting  his 
name  on  his  desk.  If  it  is  in  testimony  that  A  saw 
him  do  it ;  or  that  B  saw  the  desk  just  before  X  took 
his  seat,  and  it  had  not  been  cut  then ;  B  or  C  saw  him 
doing  something  unlike  anything  belonging  to  his 
proper  business,  or  only  like  the  work  of  cutting  the 
desk ;  and  B,  C  or  D  noticed  the  name  as  freshly  cut 
immediately  upon  X's  leaving  his  seat ; — this  would  be 
of  the  nature  of  direct  or  personal  evidence. 


GENEBAL  ELEMENTS:   INVESTIGATION.  157 

If  however  it  is  in  testimony,  rather  this,  that  A 
saw  the  freshly  cut  name  soon  after  X  left  his  seat ;  B 
or  C  saw  fresh  whittlings  adhering  to  his  clothes  after 
he  left  the  seat ;  D  found  the  point  of  the  knife  blade 
broken  off  in  the  wood,  which  point  corresponds 
with  a  broken  blade  in  X's  knife  ;  E  found  blood 
about  the  cutting,  and  X's  finger  proves  to  have  been 
freshly  cut  about  that  time  ;  these,  with  the  fact  that 
it  was  X's  name,  or  that  the  carving  resembles  other 
carving  of  his  name  indisputably  done  by  himself, 
and  no  evidence  appears  that  any  one  else  did,  or 
could  have  any  motive  for  doing  the  mischief,  would 
be  of  the  nature  of  circumstantial  evidence. 

From  what  has  been  thus  far  suggested,  it  must  be 
evident  that  in  the  government  of  the  school,  circum- 
stantial evidence,  elsewhere  in  the  administration  of 
justice  admitted  as  affording  sufficient  proof,  ought 
not,  except  in  rare  cases,  to  be  received  as  in  itself 
conclusive.  In  a  commonwealth  whose  subjects  are 
so  often  weak  and  helpless,  and  over  whom  the  au- 
thority is  so  absolute,  probability  however  strong  can 
not  afford  safe  ground  for  the  infliction  of  punishment. 
Hence,  the  teacher's  main  reliance  for  proof  should 
rather  be  placed  upon  personal  evidence,  or  direct 
testimony.  It  is  true,  in  cases  of  even  grave  offense, 
it  may  be  difficult,  perhaps  even  impossible,  to  obtain 
such  evidence.  Shall  then  the  offender  "  shove  by 
justice  ?"  Doubtless  :  so  long  as  certainty  in  judg- 
ment cannot  be  attained,  discipline  must  be  suspended. 
But  the  influence  of  impunity  in  the  commission  of 
offenses  is  evil.     Certainly,  were  such  cases  the  com- 


158  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

mon  rule.  They  are,  however,  more  likely  to  be  in- 
cidental, and  will,  to  some  extent,  be  counterbalanced 
by  the  moral  effect  of  an  evident  determination  on 
the  part  of  the  teacher,  to  forego  even  justice  until  it 
is  competent  to  stand  forth,  in  its  severity  beyond 
doubt  or  challenge. 

In  this  connection,  it  is  important  to  caution  the 
teacher  against  an  error  into  which  some  unhappily 
fall ;  namely,  that  of  compassing  a  confession  by 
stratagem.  It  is  sometimes  the  case  that,  in  the  con- 
scious absence  of  sufficient  testimony,  the  teacher,  in 
laboring  with  the  accused,  puts  on  the  show  of  having 
established  the  fact  of  his  guilt,  in  order  to  produce 
in  his  mind,  a  conviction  of  the  uselessness  of  further 
concealment,  and  thus  to  induce  an  actual  confession 
of  the  fault.  This  course  is  objectionable  on  several 
grounds. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  practically  dishonest.  It  in- 
volves falsehood  by  implication.  The  teacher  says 
by  his  action  ;  "  I  know  all  the  facts.  I  am  fully  as- 
sured of  your  guilt.  I  do  not  need  your  confession. 
I  only  seek  it  for  its  influence  on  yourself,  and  its 
bearing  on  the  amount  of  the  punishment."  But  not 
one  particle  of  this  is  true.  Now  the  teacher  should 
take  good  heed  that  he  does  not  attempt  to  establish 
virtue  through  the  intervention  of  an  immorality. 

In  the  second  place,  the  use  of  such  means  cannot 
but  impair  the  teacher's  own  upright  self-conscious- 
ness, and  so  must  naturally  tend  to  destroy  that  clear 
open  sincerity  and  confidence  of  manner  upon  which 
so  much  of  his  influence  over  the  school  depends. 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  I   INVESTIGATION.  159 

He  who  can  resort  to  such  means,  without  himself 
wearing  the  look  of  a  conscious  culprit,  is  either  to 
be  pitied  or  detested ;  certain  it  is,  that  if  he  deals 
much  in  such  base  artifices,  he  will  not  long  retain 
in  aspect,  the  fine  upright  glory  of  conscious  purity 
and  honor.  Hence,  the  teacher  may  better  forego  the 
administration  of  presumptive  justice  rather  than  de- 
moralize himself. 

Lastly,  the  pupil  is  not  always  so  obtuse  or  simple 
as  not  to  penetrate  the  deceitfulness  of  the  artifice. 
If  he  does  pry  into  its  hidden  secret,  an  irreparable 
blow  has  been  inflicted  upon  the  teacher's  character 
and  influence.  Even  if  the  pupil  does  not  clearly 
discover  the  imposition,  he  will,  in  confessing  his 
fault  and  being  punished,  rebel  in  heart  against  both 
however  just,  as  having  been  reached  in  some  way, 
to  which  he  has  unwisely  and  half-inexplicably  al- 
lowed himself  to  be  made  an  accomplice.  The  influ- 
ence of  any  such  conviction  cannot  but  be  injurious. 
The  civil  law  wisely  relieves  the  accused  from  the 
necessity  of  testifying  against  himself,  and  not  merely 
that  he  may  be  saved  from  the  temptation  to  perjure 
himself,  but  that,  when  he  is  condemned,  he  may 
the  more  deeply  realize  the  certainty  of  justice  and 
the  righteousness  of  the  authority.  This  lesson  from 
civil  affairs  should  not  be  lost  upon  the  teacher. 
Let  his  discipline  wait  patiently  until  it  is  able  to 
stand  on  its  own  proper  basis — sufficient  evidence. 

It  remains  only  to  give  expression  to  a  caution  or 
two  in  the  use  of  circumstancial  evidence,  and  we 
pass  from  it.     Regarding  it  chiefly  as  a  species  of 


160  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

mere  corroborative  proof,  it  is  incumbent  on  the 
teacher  always  to  accept  it  with  great  caution,  and 
to  sift  it  with  the  utmost  care.  Especially  let  him 
be  upon  his  guard  against  that  species  of  evidence 
supposed  to  be  found  in  personal  indications  of  con- 
scious guilt.  A  look  of  surprise,  of  apprehension, 
or  even  of  seeming  shame,  so  often  taken  as  proofs 
of  a  child's  guilt,  is,  by  no  means  necessarily  such. 
Nay,  in  the  case  of  children  of  a  nervous,  timid,  or 
aspiring  character,  it  may  be  rather  the  natural  and 
conclusive  indication  of  innocence.  Let,  then,  such 
appearances  be  searchingly  scanned,  and  be  clearly 
discovered  to  be  the  foreboding  shadow  of  a  clouded 
conscience,  before  they  are  allowed  to  fling  their 
darkness  over  the  frowning  judgment. 

Keverting  now  to  testimony  proper,  it  will  be  ob- 
served that  its  validity  must  rest  upon  the  existence 
of  proper  qualifications  in  the  witness.  A  brief  state- 
ment of  those  qualifications  will  suffice  for  the  present 
purpose.  Their  propriety  will  be  more  or  less  self- 
evident.     They  are  these : 

First.  The  pupil  testifying,  must  have  been  clearly 
in  a  position  enabling  him  to  be  personally  cognizant 
of  the  facts  whereof  he  affirms. 

Secondly.  He  must  claim  to  have  been,  and  to  all 
appearances,  must  have  been,  thus  directly  cognizant 
of  those  facts. 

Thirdly.  He  must  be  of  sufficient  capacity  to  really 
know,  and  to  correctly  make  known,  the  facts  he 
claims  to  have  witnessed. 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:    INVESTIGATION.  161 

Fourthly.  He  must  be  generally  accepted  by  those 
who  know  him,  as  properly  veracious. 

Fifthly.  He  must  be  free  from  any  especial  induce- 
ment, from  either  impulsiveness,  interest,  fear,  or 
personal  animosity,  which  might  naturally  cloud  his 
perceptions,  or  bias  his  representations. 

Under  this  last  head,  it  is  necessary  to  caution  the 
teacher  particularly  against  the  peculiar  tendency  of 
the  child's  haste  in  judgment  and  vividness  of  imagi- 
nation, to  control  his  convictions  and  shape  his  testi- 
mony. Nothing  is  more  common  or  natural,  than  for 
the  child,  on  finding  facts  leading  to  a  conclusion,  to 
overleap,  at  once,  the  remaining  steps,  and  assume 
what  is  really  to  be  proved,  and  then  to  create,  as  it 
were,  in  his  own  conceptions,  the  very  appearance 
which  he  assumes  to  have  witnessed.  Any  one  who 
has  observed  how  perfectly  the  child's  imagination 
effects  the  most  radical  transformations  in  his  con- 
ceptions, and  the  absolute  faith  in  which  he  will  deal 
with  the  transformation  thus  effected,  as  reality,  will 
realize  the  force  of  the  caution  here  uttered.  While, 
however,  the  teacher  keeps  this  caution  in  mind,  let 
him  not  fall  into  the  error  and  injustice  of  charging 
such  perversion  of  fact  to  a  want  of  truthfulness  in 
the  child.  Their  source  is,  as  suggested  above,  in 
the  intellect,  and  not  in  the  heart. 

The  testimony  obtained  from  proper  witnesses  may 
be  of  three  species ;  namely,  Simple,  Accumulated,  and 
Concurrent  Testimony. 

Simple  testimony  is  that  which  stands  by  itself, 


162  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

and  which  is  unsustained  by  anything  beyond  the 
character  of  the  single  witness. 

Accumulated  testimony  is  that  which,  going  beyond 
the  single  witness,  stands  with  other  testimony  of 
a  like  kind  obtained  from  multiplied  witnesses.  It  is 
sustained  not  only  by  the  character  of  each  witness, 
but  by  the  very  faot  of  its  accumulation. 

Concurrent  testimony,  like  accumulated  testimony, 
involves  a  multiplication  of  witnesses,  and  is,  like 
that,  the  stronger  for  this  multiplication.  The  evi- 
dence involved,  does  not,  however,  like  that  of  accu- 
mulated testimony,  rest  for  its  verity  or  force  upon  the 
character  of  the  witnesses,  but  only  upon  their  concur- 
rence. This  is  because  the  concurrence,  in  this  way, 
involves  the  fact ;  namely,  if  the  fact  really  occurred, 
then  such  a  concurrence  becomes  clearly  possible  ;  if 
it  did  not  occur,  then  a  concurrence  is,  as  the  case 
may  be,  either  not  probable  or  not  possible. 

The  characteristics  of  the  testimony  as  a  whole, 
upon  which  the  teacher  may  rest  a  decision,  may 
now  be  briefly  stated.     They  are  as  follows : 

First.  It  must  be  definite  ;  not  vague  or  general. 

Secondly.  It  must  to  a  reasonable  extent  be  accu- 
mulated. Simple  testimony  should  not  be  deemed 
sufficient  to  conviction.  No  more  in  the  school  than 
in  the  state,  should  the  fate  of  the  culprit  lie  in  the 
hands  of  a  single  witness. 

Thirdly.  It  should  be  generally  concurrent.  A 
proper  concurrence  is  in  fact  the  crowning  element 
in  its  strength.     This  may  be  seen  as  follows. 

The  grounds  of  the  strength  of  concurrent  testi- 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:   INVESTIGATION.  163 

mony  are  twofold  :  namely,  first,  the  impossibility  or 
improbability  of  collusion  on  the  part  of  the  wit- 
nesses :  secondly,  the  absence  of  any  motives  in  the 
individual  witnesses,  which  are  adequate  to  lead  to 
the  given  testimony,  without  supposing  the  reality  of 
the  fact  to  which  they  testify.  If  both  these  points 
can  be  established,  or  if  it  is  impossible  to  detect  any- 
thing to  the  contrary,  the  evidence  is  valid  and  con- 
clusive. And  this  will  be  so,  unimportant  differences 
in  the  individual  testimony,  to  the  contrary  notwith- 
standing. Nay,  so  long  as  there  is  a  clear  concur- 
rence as  to  the  main  facts,  the  evidence  is  really  the 
stronger  for  these  divergencies. 

This  may  be  illustrated  by  a  simple  formula.  For 
example,  let  the  several  testimonies  be  represented 
by  A,  B,  and  C  ;  the  main  fact  by  D  ;  and  the  unim- 
portant divergencies  by  e,  f,  and  g.  We  have  then 
the  following  :  A = D  +  e, 

B=D  +  f,  and 

G=D+g. 
Combining  these  by  addition,  we  have  : 

A  +  B  +  C-^D  +  e  +  f+g. 
Here  it  is  clear  that  D,  in  which  there  was  a  con- 
currence, has  acquired  a  threefold  strength  in  itself, 
and  so  much  further  importance  as  is  embraced  in 
the  sum  of  e,  f,  and  g. 

Even  if  the  divergencies  in  minor  points,  are  con- 
tradictory, the  result  is  still  decisive.     Let 

A=D  +  e, 

B=D— e,  and 

C=D  +  f. 


164  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

Combining  as  before,  we  have  : 

A  +  B  +  C=3D  +  f. 

In  this  case  D's  force  in  itself  is  reduplicated  as 
before,  and  is  still  further  supplemented  by  f,  so  that 
it  is  stronger  for  the  divergencies,  although  some  of 
them  were  contradictory. 

To  apply  this  to  a  practical  case.  Suppose  that,  as 
in  a  previous  illustration,  X  has  been  charged  with 
cutting  his  desk.  Now,  A  testifies  that  he  saw  him 
do  it,  and  with  the  little  blade  of  his  knife ;  B  testi- 
fies that  he  saw  him  do  it,  but  with  the  big  blade  in- 
stead of  the  little  one ;  and  D  that  he  saw  him  do  it, 
did  not  see  which  blade  he  used,  but  heard  the  blade 
break,  and  knows  that  the  point  found  in  the  desk  be- 
longs to  a  large  rather  than  a  small  blade.  Here  the 
main  fact  is  raised  to  a.  threefold  certainty ;  and  the 
certainty  is  the  greater  because  the  divergence  in  the 
individual  testimony  evinces  intelligence  and  inde- 
pendence in  the  witnesses.  Nor  does  the  contra- 
dictory divergence  of  A's  and  B's  testimony  impair 
the  force  of  the  evidence,  since  it  is  every  way  prob- 
able that  both  are  correct.  For  it  is  easy  to  see  that 
C  might  have  first  used  the  smaller  blade,  and  after- 
wards, from  fear  of  breaking  it,  changed  it  for  the 
larger  one,  before  B's  attention  was  called  to  the  act 
he  was  perpetrating. 

Other  illustrations  might  be  given,  but  we  think 
the  teacher  will  now  be  able  to  apply  the  foregoing 
principles  for  himself.  We  have  taken  the  pains  to 
develop  these  logical  points  so  that,  in  the  absence 
of  other  sources  of  information,  he  may  havo  at  hand 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:    DECISION.  165 

enough  to  answer  any  such  individual  and  immediate 
want. 

The  element  in  judgment  as  a  part  of  school  gov- 
ernment which  remains  to  be  considered,  is  Decision. 
Decision  is  the  final  determination  in  the  teacher's 
mind,  of  the  innocence  or  the  guilt  of  the  accused ; 
and,  if  the  latter,  of  its  relative  demerit  and  proper 
measure  of  punishment. 

This  decision  to  be  valid  and  complete,  must  be 
marked  by  two  characteristics ;  namely,  it  must  be 
positive,  overt  and  explicit. 

As  positive,  it  must  embrace  either  the  one  or  the 
other  result,  either  that  of  actual  innocence  or  actual 
guilt.  No  halfway  conclusion  should  be  accepted. 
If  the  guilt  be  not  established,  whatever  may  be  the 
possibilities,  assume,  as  has  been  before  demanded, 
that  the  accused  is  innocent.  We  hold  this  principle 
to  be  even  more  imperative  in  school  government 
than  in  civil  government. 

It  is  necessary,  too,  that  the  decision,  when  distinctly 
attained,  should  be  publicly  declared.  It  is  neither 
just  to  the  culprit  nor  good  for  the  school,  that  it 
should  be  allowed  to  remain  delayed  or  concealed 
and  consequently  inoperative.  The  steps  of  the  in- 
vestigation are  known  :  so  should  be  the  end  reached. 
And  the  announcement  of  the  decision  should  be 
prompt  and  explicit.  Any  halfway,  dilatory,  or  equiv- 
ocal statement  of  the  teacher's  real  conviction  and 
determination  is  discreditable  to  him  and  injurious 
to  the  school.  Let  the  teacher,  at  once,  kindly  but 
fearlessly  render  a  clear  verdict  and  pass  the  just 


1GG  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

sentence.  Nothing  can  well  be  more  unreasonable 
and  even  hateful  than  the  timid  or  malicious  procras- 
tination- or  prevarication  involved  in  the  too  common 
announcement ;  "  I  cannot  attend  to  the  matter  now :" 
or  "  I  will  let  you  know  my  decision  by  and  by."  It 
not  only  impeaches  the  teacher's  judgment  Or  his 
courage,  but  it  aggravates  the  pupil's  spirit  and  per- 
haps determines  him  upon  a  fiercer  resistance  to  the 
subsequent  discipline. 

•  From  what  has  thus  far  been  urged,  it  will  be  quite 
evident  what  must  be  the  general  characteristics  of 
judgment  in  the  government  of  the  school.  It  must 
be,  beyond  a  doubt,  deliberate,  comprehensive,  righteous, 
and  decisive.  "Without  proper  deliberateness  there 
can  be  in  the  teacher,  neither  that  air  of  quiet 
strength  nor  that  evident  care  to  secure  even-handed 
justice,  which  are  necessary  to  his  highest  influence 
as  a  ruler.  Without  such  comprehensiveness  in  judg- 
ment as  embraces  both  sides  of  disputed  questions 
and  all  the  facts  bearing  upon  their  full  elucidation, 
no  teacher  can  be  secure  against  undue  bias,  and 
against  the  ultimate  impairing  of  the  general  con- 
fidence in  the  candor  and  rectitude  of  his  deci- 
sions. And  without  that  prompt  and  explicit  deci- 
siveness which,  after  due  investigation,  brings  a  case 
to  a  clear  and  unmistakable  conclusion,  his  govern- 
ment will  fail  to  command  that  conviction  of  its 
strength  and  determination,  which  must  underlie  just 
reverence  and  implicit  submission.  On  these  points, 
no  further  enlargement  is  necessary. 

It  only  remains  to  add,  that  it  will  be  seen  that  no 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :   DECISION.  1G7 

provision  whatever  is  made  for  what  may  be  termed 
popular  decisions  in  the  school, — that  is  decision  by 
the  voice  of  the  pupils.  This  has  been  for  the  reason 
that,  while  it  is  not  denied  that,  in  certain  limited 
cases,  and  for  the  attainment  of  minor  ends,  they 
may  be  admissible,  they  are  held  to  be  incompatible 
with  the  true  view  of  the  school  government  as  auto- 
cratic ;  with  the  just  duty  of  the  teacher  as  sole  ruler ; 
and  with  his  proper  dignity  as  truly  capacitated  for 
his  place.  Any  common  or  important  resort  to  them 
must  therefore  be  either  deceptive,  or  if  not  deceptive, 
practically  absurd,  and  dangerous.  The  specific  de- 
velopment of  this  in  application  must,  however,  be 
reserved  for  another  place. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

GENERAL    ELEMENTS    CONTINUED — DISCIPLTNE — CORREC- 
TION OR  ENFORCEMENT,   PREVENTIVE. 


Correction  defined  and  classified  as  Preventive  and  Penal  —  Preven- 
tive correction  defined— Related  to  arrangement  and  management — 
Specific  measures — Rewards  defined  and  classified  as  Consequential  and 
Authoritative — Kinds  distinguished — General  grounds  of  lawfulness — 
Authoritative  rewards  of  the  nature  of  positive  institutions — Desire 
of  approval  inherent — Abstract  virtue  beyond  the  child's  comprehen- 
sion— Authoritative  rewards  classified  as  Public  Approval,  Conferred 
Privileges  and  Formal  Gifts — Public  approval  considered — Its  use  of  sym- 
bols— Requisites  to  effectiveness — Must  be  formally  expressed — Must 
be  protected  against  discredit — Conferred  privileges  distinguished — 
Superiority  of  this  class — Classified  as  privileges  of  Regard;  of  Com- 
fort; of  Recreation ;  and  of  Improvement — Kinds  exemplified — Requi- 
sites to  effectiveness — Must  obtain  the  teacher's  interest — Must  be  held 
as  resumable — Gifts  classified,  as  Gifts  of  Pleasure  and  Profit— Kinds 
distinguished  and  compared — Gifts  of  pleasure  appeal  to  the  fancy  or 
the  imagination — Superiority  of  the  latter — Gifts  of  profit  classified  as, 
affording  recreation,  real  advantage,  and  aesthetic  improvement — 
Kinds  distinguished,  and  worth  compared — Grounds  of  bestowing 
gifts  twofold;  as  the  basis  of  mere  achievements,  and  of  worthy  effort 
— The  latter  superior—  Manner  of  bestoivtnent — Must  be  bestowed  pub- 
licly— Must  evince  interest — Must  be  bestowed  with  discretion— With 
careful  adaptation — Common  failure  as  to  adaptation — Bestowed  as  a 
grace,  and  not  as  a  compensation — The  error  of  offering  prim* — Induce 
mercenary  effort— Are  not  resumable — System  of  "  Demerit  Marks" 
deferred  to  a  subsequent  chapter. 

We  come  now  to  the  last  of  the  general  elements  of 
discipline  in  school  government ;  namely,  Correction 
or  Enforcement. 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  PREVENTIVE  CORRECTION.  169 

Correction  we  understand  to  be  inclusive  of  what- 
ever means  the  teacher  may  employ  to  secure  the 
freedom  of  the  school  from  offenses  against  its  order 
and  welfare.  Correction  will,  hence,  naturally  re- 
solve itself  into  two  kinds ;  namely,  Preventive  and 
Penal  Correction. 

Preventive  correction  naturally  includes  all  the 
measures  adopted  by  the  teacher,  to  preclude  the  oc- 
currence of  occasions  for  transgression,  or  to  counter- 
act any  positive  temptations  to  wrong-doing,  which 
may  exist  or  arise  in  the  school. 

Of  these  measures,  many  of  the  more  general  cast 
will  be  found  included  under  the  head  of  order,  as 
previously  discussed.  Hence,  nothing  more  will  be 
needed  here,  than  simply  to  call  the  attention  of  the 
teacher  to  the  fact  that  whatever  he  may  do  to  secure 
sufficient  employment  or  proper  relaxation  for  his 
pupils  ;  whatever  he  may  do  to  awaken  their  interest 
or  secure  their  respect ;  whatever  he  may  do  to  make 
his  regulations  simple,  explicit,  and  reasonable,  and 
to  render  his  management  animated,  reliable,  and 
genial,  will,  while  bearing  more  directly  upon  the 
order  of  the  school,  operate  effectively  also  upon  the 
discipline,  to  prevent  the  occurrence  of  either  oppor- 
tunity or  inducement  to  the  perpetration  of  otherwise 
unthought  of  misdemeanors.  And  thus  will  the  wise 
and  masterly  ordering  of  the  school  serve  as  admira- 
ble and,  to  an  important  extent,  effective  means  for 
the  prevention,  or  precautionary  correction,  of  proba- 
ble offenses. 

But,  besides  these  general  means,  opportunity  may 


170  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

occur  for  the  wise  adoption  of  specific  measures  not 
definitely  provided  for  in  the  foregoing  suggestions. 
For  example,  the  teacher  may  find  certain  contin- 
gencies of  location,  association,  amusement  or  per- 
sonal feeling,  practically  offering  a  premium  upon 
mischief  or  violence.  Thus,  a  pupil  of  a  mischievous 
habit  may  be  occupying  a  seat  which  so  screens  him 
from  observation  as  to  favor  his  roguish  projects,  and 
thus  multiplies  them.  Again,  two  of  a  like  restless 
and  disorderly  nature  may,  by  being  seated  together, 
become  the  very  flint  and  steel  of  mischief  in  active 
contact,  from  which,  "  like  fire  in  heather  set," 
nothing  can  be  expected  but  speedy  and,  perhaps 
destructive,  conflagration.  Or,  a  child  of  feeble  and 
yielding  nature  may  be  so  situated  as  to  fall  un- 
der the  constant  influence  or  control  of  a  vicious 
boy  who  will  lead  him  into  evil  he  would  not 
otherwise  have  contemplated.  It  is  also  quite  pos- 
sible for  certain  sports,  in  themselves  innocent 
enough,  to  favor  the  rise  of  disturbances  which  could 
not  occur  in  the  case  of  others  that  might  be  sub- 
stituted for  them ;  or  pupils,  from  antecedent  col- 
lision, may  be  so  affected  towards  each  other  that,  for 
them  to  be  left  to  go  their  way  at  the  same  time,  or  to 
get  together  away  from  under  the  teacher's  eye,  will 
lead  to  new  difficulties. 

In  all  such  cases,  the  teacher  must  promptly  anti- 
cipate the  movements  of  the  enemy,  and,  if  possible, 
flank  his  position.  This  he  may  do,  by,  for  fair  rea- 
sons, or  without  indicating  any  reasons,  changing  the 
seat  of  the  secluded  rogue,   bringing  him   "  to  the 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :   PREVENTIVE   CORRECTION.     171 

front ;"  by  separating  those  pupils  whose  influence 
on  each  other  will  be  detrimental ;  by  directing  the 
school  amusements  into  better  channels,  and  by 
shrewdly  preventing  communication  or  simultaneous 
and  unobserved  movements  on  the  part  of  bellige- 
rents. No  detailed  directions  can  be  given  him  for 
effecting  these  objects  successfully.  The  method 
must  be  his  own,  to  be  either  legitimate  or  effective. 

A  still  more  important  preventive  means  of  cor- 
recting the  possible  occurrence  of  offenses,  must  be 
found  in  the  right  use  of  rewards  as  a  stimulus  to 
application  and  obedience. 

Under  the  term  retcards,  we  include  whatever  of 
either  pleasure  or  profit,  a  person  may,  from  either 
the  constitution  of  things,  or  the  positive  provisions 
of  authority,  attain  or  win  for  his  obedience  or  well- 
doing. Rewards  may  hence  be  classified  under  two 
general  heads ;  Consequential  Beiuards  and  Authorita- 
tive Bernards, 

Consequential  rewa  rds  are  such  personal  benefits 
in  either  condition  of  body,  state  of  mind,  or  asso- 
ciated relations,  as  naturally  follow  a  course  of  action 
accordant  with  the  laws  of  things.  Thus,  he  who  is 
frugal  in  his  fare  and  temperate  in  his  habits,  is  re- 
warded with  sound  health  and  physical  comfort ;  he 
who  obeys  the  laws  of  rectitude,  is  blessed  with  an 
approving  conscience  and  a  mind  at  rest ;  and  he  who 
conducts  himself  with  uniform  fidelity  and  good  will, 
wins  the  confidence  and  co-operation  of  others  in  his 
own  behalf.  All  such  rewards  are  commonly  regard- 
ed as  the  consequences  of  right  action,  and,  hence,  are 


172  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

considered  as  rewards  only  in  a  restricted  sense. 
This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  the  original  and 
invariable  results  attached  to  primal  and  universal 
laws,  the  institution  of  which  is  so  far  removed  from 
our  knowledge,  that  the  whole  appears  in  our  con- 
sciousness, not  so  much  the  product  of  authority, 
(which  it  none  the  less  is,)  as  the  mere  spontaneous 
ongoing  of  cause  and  effect. 

Authoritative  rewards  are  such  favors  or  benefits 
bodily,  mental  or  social,  as  are  bestowed  in  the  right- 
ful exercise  of  authority  by  the  higher  power,  upon 
those  who  are  judged  as  especially  meritorious,  gen- 
erally, as  meritorious  beyond  anything  attaching  to 
the  naked  performance  of  express  duty.  This  species 
embraces  those  rewards  commonly  understood  as  such, 
and  it  is  concerning  the  use  of  these  in  the  school 
that  there  arises  so  much  dispute  among  teachers, 
resulting  simply  in  the  unfortunate  confusion  of  many 
minds,  and  the  practical  waste  of  much  logic. 

Of  the  proper  use  of  rewards  in  school  government, 
as  elsewhere,  it  is  thoroughly  certain  that  it  is  legiti- 
mate, and  that,  whether  that  be  admitted  or  not,  no 
efforts  to  the  contrary  will  avail  under  the  present 
constitution  of  things,  to  discharge  it  from  its  prac- 
tical place  and  power  among  the  elements  of  human 
influence  and  control.  And  this,  for  the  following 
reasons. 

First.  Authoritative  rewards  are  of  the  nature  of 
positive  institutions,  or  those  institutions  which,  while 
they  do  not  arise  in  the  line,  and  under  the  laws  of 
natural  cause  and  effect,  and  are  not,  therefore,  ne- 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  PREVENTIVE  CORRECTION.  173 

cessary  to  the  existence  or  operation  of  things  as 
originally  constituted,  are  still  neither  contradictory 
to  that  original  constitution  of  things,  nor  in  any- 
wise dispensable  under  its  present  modifications 
and  necessities,  but  are  the  clear  practical  product 
of  a  potent  and  provident  authority  which,  through 
them,  rightfully  meets  and  satisfies  existing  and  other- 
wise unmanageable  emergencies  in  the  operation  of 
the  moral  system.  Of  this  nature,  are  all  such  insti- 
tutions as  the  church,  civil  government,  even  the 
school  organization  itself ;  and  also  all  such  regula- 
tions, as  laws  of  marriage,  laws  of  contracts,  rules 
for  political  action,  rules  for  judicial  trial,  and  penal 
statutes ;  and  until  all  these,  evidently  not  necessary 
under  the  original  constitution  of  things,  nor  neces- 
sarily related  to  the  natural  operations  of  cause  and 
effect,  can  be  abrogated,  the  institution  and  use  of 
rewards  stands  with  them,  immovable. 

Secondly.  The  desire  of  approval  for  well-doing 
finds  an  ultimate  and  steadfast  foothold  in  the  very 
nature  of  the  moral  susceptibility.  Until  the  spirit 
be  constituted  so  as  to  abjure  all  claim  for  approval, 
and  the  conscience  shall  no  longer  assume  the  power 
of  "  accusing  or  else  excusing"  the  moral  agent,  the 
desire  for  rewards,  and  the  impulse  to  bestow  them, 
must  remain  imbedded  in  the  first  instincts  of  our 
nature.  For  what  is  a  gift  or  a  reward,  other  than 
an  outward  and  substantial  symbolizing  of  the  in- 
ward approval  of  the  course  pursued  or  the  act  per- 
formed? Hence,  always,  the  natural  prompting  of 
the  highest  satisfaction,  gratitude  or  love,  is  to  get 


174  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

out  of  mere  fleeting  looks  or  works,  and  into  a  some- 
thing more  tangible  and  enduring,  that,  in  its  pos- 
sessed and  treasured  substance,  shall  seem  to  set 
forth  more  fully  the  power  of  the  inward  affection, 
and  shall,  when  the  personal  exhibition  of  that  affec- 
tion has  passed  away,  stand  out  clear  and  impressive 
before  the  sense,  as  its  hallowed  monument. 

Thirdly.  Whatever  may  be  possible  in  the  mature 
man,  in  the  line  of  that  sublime  abstraction,  "  virtue 
is  its  own  reward,"  the  child  is  neither  equal  to  such 
abstractions,  nor  are  they  demanded  of  him.  They 
may,  it  is  true,  be  gradually  wrought  by  instruction 
into  the  body  of  his  thought,  for  the  sake  of  their 
ultimate  effect  on  his  principles  as  a  man.  But,  em- 
braced as  he  is,  in  a  world  of  perceived  realities,  and 
only  capable  of  attaining  the  subtler  ideals  by  pas- 
sing to  them  through  the  fine  gradations  of  a  pro- 
gressively reduced  and  sublimated  reality,  it  is  absurd 
and  tyrannous  to  rob  him  of  the  stimulus,  guidance 
and  aid  of  proper  rewards  as  outward  realities  fore- 
shadowing the  ideal  of  absolute  virtue,  and  rendering 
possible  both  its  conception  and  attainment. 

On  these  grounds,  then,  we  hold  the  use  of  rewards 
to  be  legitimate  and  necessary,  and  regard  the  ob- 
jections commonly  urged,  as  only  valid  when  applied 
to  their  misapplication  or  abuse.  That  such  abuse 
is  quite  possible  and,  indeed,  too  common,  we  readily 
admit.  Some  notice  of  this  abuse  may  be  taken 
hereafter.  But.it  is  sufficient,  here,  to  urge  that  the 
abuse  of  a  thing,  so  far  from  demanding  its  condem- 
nation, is  often  indicative  of  a  higher  excellence  in 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  I  PREVENTIVE  CORRECTION.  175 

its  proper  use,  since,  as  Luther  has  remarked  :  "  The 
best  of  God's  blessings  are  often  the  worst  abused." 

Authoritative  or  positive  rewards,  as  thus  recog- 
nized, may  be  distributed  into  three  kinds :  Public 
Approval,  Conferred  Privileges,  and  Formal  Gifts. 

By  public  approval,  we  mean  such  a  marked  re- 
cognition of  merit,  before  the  whole  school,  as  dis- 
tinguishes the  pupil  from  his  fellows,  and  declares 
him  to  be  worthy  of  general  esteem  and  imitation. 
In  the  state,  it  finds  its  parallel  in  the  deliberate 
vote  of  thanks,  or  the  decree  that  the  'citizen  has 
deserved  well  of  the  commonwealth.' 

As  in  the  state,  such  public  commendation  may  be 
accompanied  by  some  tangible  symbol,  such  as  medals, 
badges,  or  decorations ;  so  in  the  school,  the  teacher 
may  make  effective  use  of  corresponding  means  for 
giving  to  his  public  approval  of  the  pupil's  course,  a 
sensible  and  permanent  manifestation.  In  the  case 
of  the  larger  number  of  pupils,  some  such  badge  or 
symbol  is  almost  necessary  to  a  full  appreciation  of 
the  reality  of  the  praise  bestowed.  The  grounds  of 
this  necessity  will  be  readily  apprehended  by  those 
who  have  carefully  considered  the  child's  nature  as 
presented  in  a  previous  chapter. 

There  are,  however,  certain  requisites  to  the 
effectiveness  of  this  species  of  reward,  which,  we 
think,  are  too  generally  disregarded,  and  the  absence 
of  which  is,  we  believe,  the  real  cause  of  the  doubt 
which  teachers  entertain  of  its  utility.  All  such  de- 
clarations of  merit,  to  command  the  real  respect  of 
the  school,  must  command  the  marked  attention  and 


176  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

regard  of  the  teacher.  Given  carelessly  or  informally, 
and  without  his  subsequent  steady  and  respectful  re- 
cognition, they  will  be  regarded  by  the  school  as 
mere  idle  words,  and,  as  such,  will  degenerate  into 
mere  occasions  for  mischievous  innuendos,  than 
which,  nothing  can  exert  a  worse  influence  upon  the 
meritorious  pupil  and  others  sincerely  emulous  of  his 
example.  Let  the  teacher  then  see  to  it,  that  due 
solemnity  attaches  to  the  act  of  public  approval,  and 
that  the  use  of  its  appropriate  symbols  is  always 
protected  against  "ridicule.  Indeed,  all  such  ridicule 
should  be  treated  as  itself  an  offense,  not  only  against 
the  rights  of  the  pupil,  but  also  against  the  respect 
due  to  the  teacher. 

Private  commendation  is  not  here  considered,  not 
because  it  is  excluded,  but  because  it  belongs  under 
the  head  of  natural  or  constitutional  rewards,  before 
mentioned.  It  comes  more  within  the  natural  line  of 
moral  cause  and  effect ;  for  the  worthy  pupil  has  just 
as  much  right,  and  indeed  the  same  right,  to  expect 
the  private  approval  of  his  course  by  the  teacher,  as 
its  approval  by  his  own  conscience.  That  such  ap- 
proval, under  only  the  restrictions  of  prudence,  is  to 
be  bestowed  when  deserved,  needs  not  be  argued. 
It  is  a  law  of  the  moral  instincts. 

Under  the  head  of  conferred  privileges,  we  include 
all  such  liberties,  favors  or  personal  advantages,  as 
may,  in  the  teacher's  wise  exercise  of  his  supreme 
authority,  be,  by  positive  provisions,  conferred  upon 
the  meritorious  pupil.  These  privileges  must,  of 
course,  involve  no  subtraction  from,  or  infringement 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:   PREVENTIVE   CORRECTION.     177 

of,  the  rights  of  others.  They  are  simply  of  the 
nature  of  higher  or  supplementary  individual  rights, 
open  to  the  ambition  of  all,  but  due  only  to  those 
distinguished  by  specific  and  really  attained  merit. 

The  bestowment  of  such  privileges,  it  will  be  seen, 
involves  a  public  approval,  and  is  subject  to  the  same 
requisites  with  that.  It,  however,  transcends  public 
approval  in  rank  and  effectiveness,  inasmuch  as  it 
involves  more  substantial  tokens  of  recognized  merit. 
Approval  involving  the  use  of  some  distinguishing 
symbol  or  badge,  approaches  these  privileges  some- 
what, but  still  differs  from  them  in  the  fact  that  it  is 
a  mere  honor  conferred,  and  not  a  real  advantage  at- 
tained. This  real  or  substantial  advantage,  or  one 
regarded  as  such  by  the  pupil,  is  a  cardinal  element 
in  this  species  of  reward.  It  must  be  the  teacher's 
study  to  secure  its  actual  presence  in  the  conferred 
privilege. 

These  privileges  may  be  conveniently  classified  un- 
der several  heads  ;  as,  Privileges  of  Regard  ;  of  Com- 
fort ;  of  Recreation  ;  and  of  Improvement. 

Without  resorting  to  any  formal  definition,  these 
kinds  of  reward  may  be  briefly  and  practically  pre- 
sented with  sufficient  clearness  by  simple  illustrations. 
It  will  now  readily  occur  to  the  thoughtful  teacher 
how,  according  to  the  different  susceptibilities  of  de- 
serving pupils,  he  may  extend  to  one  the  privilege  of 
sitting  by,  or  walking  with  the  teacher,  or  of  being 
allowed  to  do  him  some  special  service ;  to  another, 
the  right  to  occupy  some  favorite  or  peculiarly  at- 
tractive seat ;  to  another,  some  additional  means  of 


178  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

amusement  or  time  for  play,  or  a  part  in  some  espe- 
cial scheme  of  pleasure  or  recreation  projected  by  the 
teacher ;  and  to  another,  the  right  to  engage  in  some 
exercise  or  study  beyond  his  ordinary  course  ; — 
in  these  ways  distinguishing  each  as  worthy,  and 
practically  rewarding  him  according  to  his  merits. 

These  rewards  possess  some  peculiar  advantages. 
Eising,  for  example,  above  the  possible  emptiness  of  a 
mere  honor,  they  involve  a  substantial  benefit  which 
appeals  to  the  better  feelings  rather  than  to  the  mer- 
cenary impulses.  Beyond  this,  there  is  the  advantage 
resulting  from  the  fact  that  they  may  be  temporarily 
conferred,  or  may  be  resumed  in  case  of  delinquency. 
Thus  they  may  not  only  be  endowed  with  double  value 
by  the  simple  possibility  of  their  being  forfeited  ;  but 
they  may,  by  being  conferred  on  others,  be  made  sus- 
ceptible of  a  wider  use  and  application. 

But  in  order  that  these  rewards,  too  little  esteemed 
or  employed  in  the  government  of  our  schools,  may 
be  made  thoroughly  effective,  proper  provision  must 
be  made  for  their  application,  and  a  real  interest 
in  their  bestowment  must  be  evinced.  This  interest 
must  also  be  not  only  evident  but  permanent,  for 
necessarily  the  pupil's  esteem  for  them  can  not  be 
expected  to  rise  above  the  manifest  value  attached  to 
them  by  the  teacher.  At  least,  the  expert  in  reading 
human  nature  will  not  expect  the  child  to  prize  for 
any  length  of  time,  the  things  which  he  finds  others, 
and  especially  those  above  him,  holding  as  practically 
more  or  less  wortliless.  What  is  held  as  dear  by  one, 
is  very  naturally  held  to  be  desirablo  by  another. 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  I  PREVENTIVE  CORRECTION.  179 

In  this  direction  also,  important  use  may  be  made 
of  the  principle  of  resumption  upon  forfeiture,  as  al- 
ready indicated.  A  steady  conviction  of  the  possi- 
bility and  the  propriety  of  such  a  resumption  of  the 
conferred  privileges,  will,  not  only  serve  to  demon- 
strate the  teacher's  regard  for  their  unimpaired 
worth  and  justice,  but  it  will  serve  also  to  perpetuate 
in  the  pupil's  mind  a  just  idea  of  their  true  nature 
and  end,  and  will  also  operate  as  a  steady  stimulus 
toward  persistence  in  the  meritorious  course  so  aus- 
piciously begun, — all  of  them  objects  too  important 
to  be,  for  one  moment,  overlooked  or  disregarded. 

We  now  come  to  the  last  class  of  rewards  enumer- 
ated ;  namely,  Gifts,  a  species  sufficiently  defined  by 
their  title.  These  may  be  conveniently  classed  as  of 
two  kinds  ;  Gifts  of  Pleasure  or  Profit. 

Under  the  head  of  gifts  of  pleasure,  may  be  includ- 
ed all  articles  bestowed  as  rewards,  which  are  of  a 
kind  appealing  to  the  child's  love  of  amusement,  or  to 
his  sense  of  the  curious  or  the  beautiful.  These  nat- 
urally arrange  themselves  under  three  divisions,  in- 
cluding severally  such  as  address  themselves  to  the 
active  powers,  to  the  fancy  or  to  the  imagination. 
Of  these,  the  two  former  are  the  more  available  in  the 
case  of  the  younger  class  of  pupils  ;  but  the  latter  are 
of  the  higher  order  both  as  it  regards  their  relation 
to  a  purer  taste  and  a  more  enduring  influence.  It  is 
worthy  of  observation,  however,  that  the  child's  im- 
agination is  not  so  much  cognitive  as  dramatic  :  he 
readily  creates  character  and  scenes  in  his  daily 
amusements  ;  but  he  does  not  at  all  penetrate  through 


180  SCHOOL  GOVEKNMENT. 

the  outer  shell  of  the  beautiful,  to  the  hidden  soul  en- 
shrined within,  by  the  exercise  of  the  creative  imagi- 
nation. Hence,  whatever  is  addressed  to  his  fancy, 
and  to  that  fancy  as  somewhat  barbaric  in  its  charac- 
ter, will  most  commonly  give  him,  for  the  time  being, 
the  greater  pleasure.  The  value  of  such  gifts,  how- 
ever, is  fancied  rather  than  real ;  and  their  capacity 
to  produce  pleasure  is,  consequently,  limited  and 
short-lived. 

Under  the  head  of  gifts  of  profit,  we  include  what- 
ever rewards  may  be  applied  either  chiefly  or  purely 
to  some  economic  or  useful  end.  These  may  be 
briefly  enumerated  as  of  three  kinds.  First,  those 
which,  while  affording  the  child  a  means  of  proper 
amusement,  carefully  shape  that  amusement  to  some 
useful  end  of  either  development  or  improvement.  As 
examples  of  these,  we  may  mention  the  various  his- 
torical, biographical  and  geographical  games  so  abun- 
dant at  the  present  time,  and  the  numerous  illustrated 
books  upon  useful  subjects. 

Secondly,  those  susceptible  of  conducing  to  the 
supply  of  the  child's  substantial  wants  either  bodily 
or  mentally.  Examples  of  this  kind  of  gifts  may  be 
found  in  articles  of  apparel,  (applicable  in  the  case 
of  the  more  destitute  class  of  pupils) ;  appliances  for 
toilet  use ;  articles  important  in  the  lighter  domestic 
employments  of  girls ;  such  as  are  useful  in  writing, 
drawing,  or  the  care  of  books,  and,  lastly,  books  of 
solid  merit  and  practical  utility. 

Thirdly,  those  gifts  which  are  of  a  mixed  charac- 
ter, possessing,  not  merely  a  substantial  utility,  but 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  I  PREVENTIVE  CORRECTION.  181 

giving  large  prominence  to  the  demands  of  the  aes- 
thetic nature  as  requiring  culture  and  gratification. 
As  examples  of  these,  some  of  those  mentioned  under 
the  preceding  head,  when  they  are  of  a  peculiarly 
ornate  or  artistic  character,  may  be  cited.  Others 
may  be  found  in  illustrated  works  on  natural  history, 
science  or  art,  or  works  of  a  standard  character  in 
the  field  of  polite  literature, — the  whole  ranging  from 
the  simple  engraving  or  oil  painting,  to  the  choicest 
specimens  of  the  English  classics.  Of  this  last 
species  of  gifts,  it  is  to  be  observed,  that,  within  their 
proper  field  of  application,  they  possess  a  marked 
superiority  over  all  others,  and  for  the  two  reasons, 
that  they  extend  their  influence  over  more  of  the 
pupil's  susceptibilities ;  and,  touching  the  aesthetic 
faculty,  they  bring  themselves  into  closer  adjacency 
to  the  moral  nature,  towards  which,  as  will  be  seen 
hereafter,  all  such  appliances  of  discipline  must  faith- 
fully and  firmly  look  and  labor. 

And  this  brings  us  naturally  to  the  consideration 
of  that  most  important  topic,  the  ground  upon  which 
alone,  rewards  may  be  properly  conferred.  Its  im- 
portance will  appear  in  the  simple  fact  that  the  reward 
often  takes  its  substantial  character  from  the  cause 
for  which  it  was  conferred,  or  the  principle  which  de- 
termined its  bestowment.  It  is  here,  much  as  it  is  in 
the  case  of  moral  action,  the  character  of  which  is 
often  purely  dependent  on  the  inspiring  motive. 

These  grounds  of  bestowment  may,  we  think,  be 
twofold;  the  ground  of  achievement  and  that  of 
effort ;  that  is,  you  may  bestow  rewards  for  something 


182  SCHOOL   GOVERNMENT. 

that  has  been  done,  or  for  something  that  has  simply 
been  worthily  attempted.  In  the  former  case,  the 
measure  of  the  reward  must,  of  course,  be  the  meas- 
ure of  the  amount  accomplished;  in  the  latter,  it 
must  be  guaged  altogether  by  the  sum  of  the  effort 
made. 

It  is  too  commonly  the  case  in  our  schools,  that 
rewards  are  bestowed  exclusively  upon  the  ground  of 
achievement.  Now,  we  grant  that  there  may  be  oc- 
casions for  the  choice  of  this  basis  of  bestowment  as 
necessary  to  the  attainment  of  desirable  ends.  But 
it  will  be  quite  clear  to  .the  observing  manager  and 
moralist,  that  these  should  be  sternly  classed  and 
considered  as  the  exceptions,  and  not  as  the  rule. 
And  for  this  reason,  that  the  measure  of  actual  ac- 
complishment is  by  no  means  always  the  measure  of 
true  merit,  since,  either  because  of  higher  natural  en- 
dowments, or  because  of  manifold  more  helps  and 
advantages,  one  pupil  may,  with  even  less  regard  for 
the  law  of  the  school,  and  with  really  no  noble  inten- 
tion or  endeavor,  accomplish  more  than  another  who 
finely  exhibits  these  higher  characteristics,  but  who 
has  been  less  favored  in  both  endowments  and  cir- 
cumstances. 

Hence,  the  bestowment  of  rewards  upon  the  ground 
of  the  worthy  effort  made,  must  commend  itself  to  every 
one  as,  in  all  respects,  the  better  course, — nay,  as  the 
only  one  which  can  be  either  wisely  or  justly  adopted 
as  the  law  of  the  school.  For,  upon  no  other  basis, 
can  the  discipline  of  the  school  as  administered  in 
the  bestowment  of  theso  incentives  to  right  action, 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  PREVENTIVE  CORRECTION.  183 

either  place  itself  on  a  proper  moral  foundation,  or 
reach  those  characters  which,  before  all  others,  need 
and  claim  its  correcting  or  elevating  influences.  Be- 
stow rewards  upon  this  basis,  however,  and  you  re- 
cognize, not  mere  abstract  results,  but  motive,  spirit, 
character,  which  is,  after  all,  the  real  thing  you  are 
endeavoring  to  reach  and  develop  under  your  disci- 
pline. Bestow  rewards  on  this  basis,  and  you  will 
reach  and  inspire  with  better  hopes  and  aims,  many 
a  pupil  susceptible  of  actual  redemption  from  his 
worst  failings  and  faults,  who,  under  any  other  course, 
would  sink  into  the  complete  stupor  of  hopelessness 
and  self-abandonment. 

Before  leaving  this  topic,  some  attention  needs  to 
be  given  to  the  characteristics  which  should  mark 
the  manner  in  which  rewards  are  bestowed ;  since, 
it  is  quite  possible  here,  as  elsewhere,  for  manner  to 
outweigh  matter  in  the  production  of  results.  Indeed, 
we  are  fully  of  the  opinion  that  many  of  the  objections 
urged,  as  it  is  often  supposed  with  valid  force,  against 
the  use  of  rewards,  hold  good,  not  at  all  against  their 
use,  but  only  against  the  manner  in  which  they  are 
bestowed. 

We  urge  then,  that  rewards,  to  have  their  best 
effect,  must  be  bestowed  publicly  and  with  due  cere- 
mony. From  the  objective  tendencies  of  children, 
as  before  noticed*  it  must  be  seen  that  they  are  crea- 
tures of  pomp  and  show,  and  borrow  largely  from  the 
outward  symbols  of  an  act  or  an  instrument,  their 
ideas  of  its  intrinsic  worth  and  dignity.  Hence,  re- 
wards of  whatever  species  they  may  be,  if  bestowed 


184  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

in  private  or  informally,  will  come  to  be  seriously 
cheapened  in  the  child's  estimation,  and  will  not  long 
be  regarded  as  objects  deserving  of  high  ambition  or 
strenuous  effort. 

Besides  this,  the  teacher,  if  at  all  possessed  of  his 
true  place  in  the  minds  of  his  pupils,  is  their  stand- 
ard :  they  conform  their  measures  of  value  or  impor- 
tance, to  what  they  apprehend  to  be  the  teacher's 
estimate.  Hence,  let  the  teacher  turn  off  the  bestow- 
ment  of  rewards  in  a  careless  uninterested  manner, 
and  the  pupil  will,  sooner  or  later,  turn  off  his  recep- 
tion of  them  in  similar  style.  It  is  a  fixed  law  of  all 
dealing  with  human  nature,  that,  if  you  would  make 
others  count  much  upon  anything,  you  must  first 
make  much  of  it  yourself.  Make  as  much,  then,  as 
you  consistently  can,  of  the  bestowment  of  favors 
and  rewards. 

Something  in  the  direction  of  this  deep  interest 
can  be  done  by  after  notice  and  inquiry  as  to  their 
nature,  the  use  that  has  been  made  of  them,  and  the 
pleasure  which  they  have  produced.  In  the  case  of 
gifts  possessing  a  literary  or  artistic  excellence,  some 
pains  should  be  taken  to  direct  the  pupil's  attention 
to  the  peculiar  points  of  admiration.  A  gift,  wisely 
chosen  with  reference  to  some  such  subsequent  use, 
may  be  made  a  means  of  especial  interest  and  influ- 
ence in  the  school.  Called  up  as  a  subject  of  public 
remark,  and  skilfully  presented  in  the  light  of  its 
excellence  or  utility,  it  becomes  a  double  prize  to  its 
owner  and  a  double  incentive  to  the  school. 

Bestow   your  rewards  also  with  great  discretion. 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:   PREVENTIVE   CORRECTION.     185 

They  are  an  extraordinary  means  of  attaining  an  im- 
portant, though  not  properly  an  extraordinary  end. 
Hence,  nothing  can  be  more  injudicious  or  absurd, 
than  a  lavish  or  undiscriminating  bestowment  of 
them.  Confer  them  where  there  is  not  a  clear  and 
outstanding  merit,  and  they  become  practically  a  lie  : 
deal  them  out  broadcast,  as  is  too  commonly  done, 
and  they  become  even  worse  than  a  lie :  they  are  a 
mere  farce.  The  former  method,  unjust  as  it  is,  is 
quite  compatible  with  strength  and  character  in  the 
government  of  the  school :  the  latter  is  only  consist- 
ent with  goodish  weakness  and  want  of  sense  in  the 
teacher. 

Still  further,  let  proper  adaptation  in  the  rewards 
conferred,  be  carefully  studied.  The  only  sensible 
law  on  this  point,  is  this  :  that  just  as  age,  condition, 
and  character  vary,  so  must  the  rewards.  As  well 
fail  to  discriminate  in  requirement  and  correction,  as 
neglect  to  discriminate  in  the  specific  adaptation 
of  conferred  privileges  or  gifts.  Such  a  mark  of  ap- 
proval as  would  thrill  the  very  heart  of  one  pupil, 
would,  to  another,  possess  little  or  no  interest,  and  to 
still  another,  would  prove  only  a  subject  of  ridicule. 
It  is,  hence,  both  idle  and  wasteful  to  mete  out  gifts 
to  all  in  the  same  style  and  measure.  It  would  com- 
pare well  with  the  wisdom  and  economy  of  the  farmer, 
who  should  gather  into  one  inclosure  his  entire  stock 
of  animals,  from  his  trotting  horse,  down  to  his  pet 
bantam,  and  should  scatter  broadcast  before  them 
the  same  general  kind  of  provender. 

It  is  for  the  lack  of  a  just  observance  of  this  prin- 


186  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

ciple,  that  the  rewards  of  merit,  commonly  conferred 
in  our  schools,  so  often  fail  to  excite  the  interest  or 
produce  the  salutary  results  expected.  It  is,  hence, 
in  this  direction,,  that  the  teacher  may,  not  only  evince 
his  nice  discrimination  of  character,  and  his  fine  tact 
in  touching  individual  peculiarities,  but  may  exert  a 
most  salutary  power  to  give  proper  effectiveness  to 
his  means  of  precautionary  correction,  and  to  secure 
a  truer  appreciation  of  his  measures,  and  a  higher 
style  of  sentiment,  throughout  the  school. 

Lastly.  Let  rewards  be  conferred  purely  as  a  grace, 
and  not  as  a  matter  of  mere  compensation.  This  in- 
volves two  points ;  namely,  first,  their  bestowment  as 
a  free  exercise  of  simple  authority,  and  not  as  a  ne- 
cessary duty ;  and,  secondly,  their  bestowment  purely 
as  a  provisional  consequent  upon  proper  well-doing, 
and  not  at  all  as  its  stipulated  price.  It  is  neither 
inconsistent  nor  injurious  for  the  pupil  to  receive  the 
reward,  feeling  that  it  is  an  authoritative  result  of 
his  well-doing,  and  a  positive  symbol  of  his  approved 
merit.  But,  for  him  to  become  impressed  or  influ- 
enced by  the  notion  that  he  is  to  do  well  that  he  may 
obtain  the  reward,  is  utterly  false  in  principle  and 
vicious  in  effect.  It  is  practically,  to  make  the  ful- 
fillment of  duty  a  mere  matter  of  barter. 

It  is  in  this  direction,  that  we  are  to  look  for  the 
real  objection  to  the  offering  of  prizes.  Offer  a  prize 
for  the  performance  of  any  duty,  or  the  accomplish- 
ment of  any  proper  work,  and,  whether  it  be  a  mere 
honor  won  or  a  gain  acquired,  the  pupil  is  subjected 
to  a  direct  and  pvjworful  tomptation  to  sink  all  true 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  PREVENTIVE  CORRECTION.  187 

and  noble  motive  in  mere  mercenary  ambition  and 
endeavor.  He  will  be  hardly  human,  if  he  does  not 
sooner  or  later,  under  their  deceptive  stimulus,  de- 
generate into  a  mere  hireling.  And  the  natural  con- 
sequence of  such  a  submergence  of  principle,  and 
Buch  a  practical  degradation  of  character;  will  be  the 
Uprising  of  that  selfishness  which  so  commonly,  in 
connection  with  the  offering  of  prizes,  develops  itself 
in  evil  arts,  in  narrow  rivalry,  and  in  subsequent 
heart-burning  and  recrimination. 

Hence,  while  we  are  not  prepared  to  condemn  the 
offering  of  prizes  altogether — for,  we  can  conceive  of 
cases  in  which,  with  all  their  concomitant  evils,  they 
may  appear  as  a  necessary  means  to  an  indispensable 
though  imperfect  good — yet,  we  must  urge  that  they 
are  to  be  held  as  a  purely  occasional  and  extraordi- 
nary means,  and  not  at  all  as  a  fixed  or  desirable 
element  in  discipline.  Rather  than  suffer  them  to 
usurp  this  latter  place  in  the  least  degree,  let  them 
be  proscribed  altogether. 

It  is  proper  to  add  further,  that  prizes  bestowed  as 
rewards,  are  subject,  like  gifts,  to  this  grave  defect ; 
that  they  are,  in  their  very  nature,  irresumable  ;  they 
are  beyond  reach  of  forfeiture.  However  immedi- 
ately or  grossly  a  rewarded  pupil  may  abandon  or 
reverse  his  praiseworthy  course,  you  have  no  power 
to  inflict  censure  by  the  retraction  of  the  reward. 
You  are,  moreover,  by  the  necessary  finality  of  its 
bestowment,  cut  off  from  the  power  to  hold  out  the 
possibility  of  a  forfeiture,  as  an  incentive  to  continued 
and  persistent  well-doing,  the  securing  of  which  is 


188  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

the  real  end  sought  in  your  approval.  Hence,  the 
superiority  of  the  former  species  of  rewards  becomes 
evident.  Hence,  also,  it  becomes  clear  that  prizes 
are  more  consistently  ultimate ;  that  is,  they  more 
properly  find  their  place  at  the  end  of  a  pupil's  course 
under  the  school  authority. 

It  may  occur  to  some,  that  under  this  general  head, 
some  notice  should  be  taken  of  the  so-called  system 
of  "  demerit  marks."  The  discussion  of  that  system, 
like  that  of  several  others  of  a  specific  character,  will, 
however,  be  deferred  for  the  present.  And  for  the 
reasons,  that  it  is  somewhat  mixed  in  its  character, 
partaking  both  of  the  nature  of  rewards  and  of  pun- 
ishments,— a  fact  which  properly  assigns  it  a  place 
elsewhere  ;  and  because  the  variety  of  considerations 
connected  with  its  examination  in  detail,  together 
with  their  somewhat  diversified  relations,  and  their 
grave  importance,  renders  a  distinct  examination  both 
more  consistent  and  convenient. 


CHAPTEE    X. 

GENEBAL  ELEMENTS   CONTINUED.   DISCIPLINE — PENAL  COR- 
EECTION — THEORIES    OF  PUNISHMENT. 

Penal  correction  defined — Punishment  defined— Restricted  use  of  the 
term — Theory  of"  natural  reactions"  (Spencer's)  stated — Objections  to  the 
theory — Based  exclusively  upon  assumptions  with  regard  to  reaction- 
ary discipline  in  physical  nature — These  assumptions  unwarranted — 
The  theory  framed  with  reference  to  physical  rather  than  moral  being — 
Hence,  inadequate  to  reach  the  higher  offenses — Illustration  —  It 
ignores  fixed  distinctions  between  mind  and  matter — Ignores  cardinal 
facts  in  the  condition  oj  the  moral  nature — Depraved  will  may  nullify 
internal  moral  reactions — The  external  reactions  may  be  wanting — 
Moral  reactions  altogether  contingent  and  uncertain — Theory  fails  to 
distinguish  the  authoritative  from  the  consequential — Does  not  distin- 
guish the  authoritative  from  the  non-authoritative — Government  can 
symbolize  its  displeasure  only  through  positive  inflictions — Cardinal 
distinctions  between  government  of  nature  and  of  authority — Assumed 
superiority  of  the  "  natural  reaction"  scheme  a  fallacy — Humanitarian 
scheme—  Relation  to  the  reaction  scheme — Animus  of  both — Infliction 
of  pain  as  punishment,  a  necessity  in  nature — Pain  in  physical  nature 
a  means  to  a  moral  end — Human  power  to  inflict  pain  under  author- 
ity, not  usurped  or  tyrannous — Non-infliction  of  pain  not  necessarily 
humane — Source  of  the  objection  to  pain,  excessive  sympathy  with  the 
individual — Reformatory  scheme — Discipline,  not  primarily,  nor  chiefly 
reformatory — The  grand  end,  the  protection  of  the  innocent  and  the 
conservation  of  the  body  politic — No  practical  escape  from  the  use  of 
punishment  in  the  school — How  reduce  its  amount — By  removing  occa- 
sions for  transgression— By  the  institution  of  exact  and  effective  dis- 
cipline— By  the  use  of  moral  instruction — The  introduction  of  moral 
instruction  into  schools  argued — As  necessary  to  the  attainment  of 
the  end  of  true  education — This  sustained  by  history,  philosophy 
and  common  sense — Moral  suasion  scheme. 

We  pass  now  to  the  second  general  division  of  cor- 
rection or  enforcement ;  namely,  Penal  Correction. 


190  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

Under  the  head  of  penal  correction,  or  the  corrective 
enforcement  of  lav/,  we  include  the  use  of  all  means 
calculated  to  suppress  offenses ;  to  sustain  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  school  against  the  encroachments  of 
offenders ;  and  to  prevent  the  lapsing  of  the  innocent 
into  transgression.  These  means,  as  such,  are  cus- 
tomarily termed  punishments. 

For  the  sake  of  guarding  against  error,  we  define 
punishments  in  precise  accordance  with  the  common 
apprehension  of  mankind,  as  being  the  authoritative 
infliction,  by  some  properly  constituted  sovereignty, 
of  some  species  of  evil  or  suffering  upon  wilful  offend- 
ers against  the  requirements  of  law. 

By  a  mere  license  in  speech,  growing  partly  out  of 
convenience  in  expression,  and  partly  out  of  a  some- 
what oblique  analogy  in  the  mere  condition  of  the 
transgressor  of  natural  law,  and  that  of  the  violator 
of  the  positive  regulations  of  government  proper,  the 
term  punishment  is  sometimes  applied  to  the  ordi- 
nary occurrence  of  consequential  evils.  Thus  we  say 
of  the  child  who  persists  in  playing  with  fire  and  gets 
burned,  or  of  the  person  who  disregards  the  laws  of 
health,  and  incurs  some  severe  illness,  that  he  is  richly 
punished  for  his  misconduct. 

But  it  is  simply  a  contradiction  of  the  common 
sense,  of  mankind,  and  a  perversion  of  proper  lan- 
guage, to  insist  that  this  is,  in  any  true  or  honest 
sense,  punishment,  or  to  covertly  accept  and  treat  it 
as  such.  No  government  has  ever  accepted  the  sub- 
jection of  the  transgressor  to  these  consequential 
evils,  as,  in  any  part,  sustaining  the  majesty  of  its 


theories:  natural  reaction  scheme.        191 

laws,  or  fulfilling  the  ends  of  justice ;  nor  lias  law 
ever  regarded  the  occurrence  of  these  consequences 
as  at  all  forestalling  the  application  of  penalty,  or  in 
one  iota  justly  abating  its  measure  of  infliction. 
Hence,  a  somewhat  noted  modern  theorist,  while  prac- 
tically treating  them  as  the  only  proper  species  or 
standards  of  penalty,  cautiously  admits  that  "  they 
are  not  punishments  in  the  literal  sense." 

Notwithstanding  this  admission,  these  consequen- 
tial results  are,  by  that  writer,  practically  pressed  as 
the  only  legitimate  species  of  penalty,  and  with  so 
much  plausibility  and  earnestness,  that  it  becomes 
important  to  notice  the  theory  critically.  According 
to  this  natural  reaction  scheme,  proper  punishments 
"  are  not  artificial  and  unnecessary  inflictions  of  pain." 
It  is  their  peculiarity  "  that  they  are  nothing  more 
than  the  unavoidable  consequences  of  the  deeds  which 
they  follow."  It  is  to  "  be  further  borne  in  mind  that 
they  are  proportionate  to  the  degree  in  which  the  or- 
ganic laws  have  been  transgressed."  These  natural 
reactions  "  are  constant,  direct,  unhesitating,  and 
not  to  be  escaped,"  and  "  they  hold  throughout  adult 
life  as  well  as  throughout  infantine  life."  In  be- 
half of  "this  system  of  letting  the  penalty  be  in- 
flicted by  the  laws  of  things,"  it  is  assumed,  "not 
only  that  the  system  by  which  the  young  child  is  so 
successfully  taught  to  regulate  its  movements,  is  also 
the  discipline  by  which  the  great  mass  of  adults  are 
kept  in  order,  and  more  or  less  improved ;  but  that 
the  discipline  humanly  devised  for  the  worst  adults, 
fails  when   it  diverges  from   this   divinely-ordained 


192  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

discipline,  and  begins  to  succeed  when  it  approxi- 
mates to  it." 

Before  entering  upon  the  examination  of  those  de- 
fects in  the  theory' which  bear  most  directly  upon 
our  main  subject,  we  desire  to  call  the  attention  to 
certain  general  positions  taken  by  its  author,  which 
we  believe  involve  mere  unwarranted  assumption, 
and  form  the  basis  of  much  sophistical  reasoning. 
The  radical  facts  upon  which  these  positions  are 
sought  to  be  established,  are  drawn  from  physical 
nature  and  its  laws  of  cause  and  effect. 

Now  it  is  assumed,  first,  that  these  natural  reac- 
tions or  punishments  "  are  nothing  more  than  the 
unavoidable  consequences  of  the  deeds  which  they 
follow ;"  that  is,  they  are  not  artificial  or  positive 
provisions  of  authority.  But  is  this  the  ultimate 
truth?  So  far  as  man,  the  subject,  is  concerned, 
they  are  doubtless  immediately  apprehended  as  sim- 
ply consequences  fixed  in  the  ordinary  round  of  na- 
ture. But,  considered  with  reference  to  the  originat- 
ing sovereignty,  (and  it  is  that  with  which  we  have  to 
do,)  were  they  not  primally,  in  the  act  of  creation, 
really  positive  provisions  authoritatively  introduced 
into  the  physical  scheme  of  things?  Man's  short- 
sighted disposition  to  rest  content  with  their  imme- 
diate phase  as  merely  consequential,  by  no  means 
changes  the  fact  that  they  are  ultimately  the  pure 
mandates  of  the  Divine  will,  and  just  as  truly  so  as 
any  specific  provisions  subsequently  thrust  into  the 
system. 

Again,  secondly,  it  is  assumed  of  these  consequences, 


theories:  natural  reaction  scheme.        193 

that  "  these  painful  reactions  are  proportionate 
to  the  degree  in  which  the  organic  laws  have  been 
transgressed."  But  how  wide  this  is  of  the  truth, 
every  day's  experience  fully  and  often  painfully  de- 
monstrates. For  example,  one  child  carelessly  tum- 
bles over  the  door  step  and  suffers  consequences  severe 
enough  to  remind  him  of  the  necessity  of  future  cau- 
tion. But  who  does  not  know  that  another  may  ex- 
perience the  same  fall  without  receiving  the  least  in- 
jury, while  still  another  is  well-nigh  killed  out-rights 
So  too,  one  child  wilfully,  and  in  flagrant  disregard 
of  express  warnings,  plays  with  fire,  and  escapes  with 
impunity,  while  another,  engaging  in  precisely  the 
same  act  through  pure  ignorance,  is  actually  burned 
to  death.  So  far  from  these  natural  reactions  being 
proportionate  to  the  inducing  acts,  their  singular  dis- 
proportionateness  is  one  of  the  most  perplexing  mys- 
teries of  the  present  state  of  being. 

It  is  further  assumed  "  that  these  natural  reactions 
which  follow  the  child's  wrong  actions  are  constant, 
direct,  unhesitating,  and  not  to  be  escaped."  But 
we  have  just  seen  that  cases  may  easily  occur  in 
which  the  wrong  act  may  be,  and  without  the  painful 
consequence  at  all.  Beyond  this,  who  does  not  know 
the  power  of  mere  repetition,  to  practically  nullify  or 
destroy  the  proper  reaction  ?  For  example,  the  boy 
takes  tobacco,  chews  it,  and  he  is  made  sick ;  but  he 
continues  the  practice,  and  finally  ceases  to  experi- 
ence the  reactionary  penalty ;  nay,  he  will  be  made 
sick  by  the  attempt  to  abandon  the  hateful  practice. 

Once  more,  it  is  assumed  that  the  transgressor 


194  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

"  soon  recognizing  this  stern  though  beneficent  dis- 
cipline becomes  extremely  careful  not  to  transgress." 
Now  while  this  effectiveness  of  the  natural  reactions 
as  a  corrective,  may  be  measurably  true  of  the  mere 
minor  and  aimless  violations  of  physical  laws,  it  is 
utterly  untrue  of  all  that  higher  and  more  dangerous 
class  of  transgressions,  in  which  the  incentives  of 
pleasure  or  immediate  gratification  come  into  play, 
Society  is  full  of  examples  of  the  most  painful  nature, 
in  which  the  constant  experience  of  the  saddest  con- 
sequences altogether  fails  to  deter  men  and  women 
from  known  violations  of  the  laws  of  the  physical 
nature. 

Without  pausing  to  notice  here  the  various  and 
singular  failures  of  the  writer  in  question  to  discover 
the  thorough  inconclusiveness  of  many  of  his  infer- 
ences ;  his  entire  disregard  of  the  most  evident  dis- 
tinctions between  the  facts  of  the  purely  physical 
system  and  one  as  purely  moral ;  and  his  sometimes 
winding  and  painful  evasions  of  the  real  question  at 
issue,  we  pass  to  those  more  vital  errors  which  vitiate 
the  whole  system  as  one  of  moral  discipline  and  gov- 
ernmental correction. 

In  the  first  place,  then  chiefly,  the  theory  is  one 
developed  from  the  physical  constitution  of  things 
rather  than  from  the  facts  and  laws  of  the  moral 
nature.  It  finds  its  predominant  types  and  leading 
principles  in  the  operation  of  physical  causes,  and 
the  laws  of  their  effects,  or  consequences,  and  not  in 
the  exercise  of  the  moral  powers  and  the  necessary 
principles  of  their  just  control.     Hence,  unless  there 


-    THEORIES  :    NATURAL  REACTION  SCHEME.  195 

can  be  established  an  exact  parallelism  between  the 
two,  or  unless  the  latter  can  be  shown  to  be  merely 
the  ulterior  development  of  the  former,  the  analogy 
instituted  between  the  two  must  sooner  or  later  fail, 
or,  if  still  pressed,  must  prove  utterly  deceptive. 
But  no  such  parallelism  or  principle  of  continuous 
development  can  be  proven. 

This  may,  perhaps,  be  more  clearly  seen  in  specific 
illustration.  Thus,  if  one  runs  a  pin  into  his  finger, 
pain  follows :  the  consequence  is  immediate  and 
certain.  But,  if  he  tells  a  lie,  the  moral  sequence, — 
conscious  guilt  and  remorse, — is  not,  as  all  experience 
shows,  immediate  and  certain ;  nay,  it  is  more  com- 
monly uncertain,  and  is  reached  only  through  inter- 
vening pressure  and  struggle.  Again,  if  one  tumbles 
over  a  door-step  through  heedlessness,  the  slight 
accident  produces  a  slight  pain,  whereas  a  more 
serious  accident  would  occasion  a  greater  pain.  But 
it  by  no  means  follows,  that  this  gradation  of  effects 
holds  good  where  action  purely  moral  is  concerned  : 
it  by  no  means  follows,  that  he  who  steals  fifty  dollars 
will  feel  five  times  the  self-condemnatory  pain,  or  will 
incur  five  times  the  opprobium  which  falls  to  the  lot 
of  him  who  has  taken  but  ten.  Still  further,  he  who 
spills  boiling  water  on  his  hands  may  learn  from  the 
resulting  scald,  a  lesson  so  effective  that  no  persua- 
sion will  induce  him  again  to  disregard  the  laws  of 
his  constitution  in  that  way.  But  no  man  of  common 
sense  needs  to  be  told,  that  it  by  no  means  follows 
from  this,  that  he  who  has  basely  defrauded  his 
neighbor,  experiences  so  keen  a  pang  in  consequence, 


19G  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

or  is  visited  by  such  naturally  resultant  evils,  that  no 
inducement  of  avaricious  desire  will  persuade  him  to 
do  the  same  again.  Nay,  experience  teaches  that  he 
who  has  done  it  once,  is,  if  anything,  the  more  likely 
to  venture  upon  a  second  experiment  of  the  same 
kind,  and  that  one  still  more  flagitious. 

"Without  multiplying  illustrations,  it  will,  we  think, 
be  clearly  enough  seen  from  the  foregoing,  that  this 
method  of  moral  discipline  must  prove  wholly  inade- 
quate to  the  proper  correction  of  the  higher  offenses. 
While,  as  a  subsidiary  means,  it  may  render  important 
service  in  the  treatment  of  all  offenses  which,  involv- 
ing distinctly  the  violation  of  some  law  of  material 
being,  are  subject  to  the  vigorous  imposition  of  nat- 
ural consequences  ;  when  the  transition  is  to  the  spir- 
itual being,  and  the  offense  becomes  more  exclusively 
moral,  and,  as  such,  is,  in  its  consequences,  not  only 
more  subtle,  but  more  varied  and  uncertain,  these4 
natural  reactions,  as  they  are  termed,  must  of  neces- 
sity fall  greatly  short  of  most  of  the  demands  made 
upon  discipline. 

Thus,  in  the  case  of  a  child  who  has  carelessly  lost 
his  knife,  you  may  insist  upon  the  continuance  of  the 
natural  consequence, — his  deprivation  of  the  privilege 
of  having  one.  But  carry  out  the  assumed  intimation 
of  nature  when  he  has  failed  to  acquire  the  knowl- 
edge embraced  in  a  certain  lesson,  and  insist  upon 
his  continued  deprivation  of  that  knowledge  as  a  just 
punishment,  and  the  whole  is  simply  absurd.  Again, 
suppose  a  man  to  have  wasted  his  fortune  in  riotous 
indulgence  ;  and  the  resultant  beggary  and  disease 


THEORIES  I    NATURAL  REACTION   SCHEME.  197 

which  are  the  natural  consequences  of  his  folly  and 
vice,  may  serve  as  a  species  of  discipline,  to  correct 
his  false  notions  of  pleasure  or  propriety,  and  deter 
him  from  a  repetition  of  his  wild  extravagance  and 
destructive  indulgence.  But,  suppose  that  he  has  by 
a  base  forger}^  reduced  his  friend  to  beggary  ;  or  has 
by  an  act  of  perjury  deprived  an  innocent  man  of 
character  or  liberty;  or  has  with  cool  calculation 
robbed  an  unsuspecting  victim  of  life  or  limb  ; — sup- 
pose any  of  these,  and  what  natural  consequence  can 
you  discover  to  be,  with  like  certainty  and  severity, 
treading  upon  the  heels  of  his  transgression,  as  an 
adequate  and  sure  corrective  ? 

Nor  will  it  avail  to  plead  that,  in  such  cases,  the 
wants  of  discipline  may  be  met  by  the  use  of  the 
higher  means,  such  as  the  withdrawal  of  confidence, 
the  demand  for  restitution,  or  deprivation  of  personal 
liberty ;  for  in  the  case  of  him  who  has  gone  to  these 
extremes  of  crime,  there  may  be  an  entire  insensibility 
to  the  verdict  of  the  public  sentiment ;  restitution 
may  be  a  simple  impossibility ;  and  as  for  the  incar- 
ceration of  the  culprit  as  an  unsafe  person,  that  is 
not  at  all  a  natural  consequence  ;  it  is  altogether  an 
authoritative  act,  and  one  of  those  positive  inflictions 
pronounced  by  the  theorist,  as  artificial  and  useless 
punishments.  By  the  very  terms  of  his  theory,  then, 
the  progress  of  the  natural  reactionist  in  this  direc- 
tion is  estopped. 

In  this  direction,  then,  the  theory  of  moral  disci- 
pline, chiefly  through  the  medium  of  natural  reac- 
tions, is  reprehensible  on  the  ground  that  it  practi- 


198  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

cally  ignores  radical  and  fixed  distinctions  that  exist 
between  matter  and  mind ;  it  quietly,  but  none  the 
less  positively,  assumes  that  natural  causes  and  free 
causes  are  confederate  on  the  same  basis,  are  bound 
by  the  same  chain  of  consequential  necessity,  and 
are  to  be  determined  in  their  practical  laws  and  ap- 
plications by  the  same  processes  of  investigation, 
and  reasoning.  In  all  this,  it  betrays  its  hearty  sym- 
pathy with  that  pretentious  modem  philosophizing 
(we  cannot  dignify  it  as  philosophy)  which  endows 
each  corpuscle  with  an  atom  of  intelligence,  aggre- 
gates their  force  in  a  nervous  system,  culminates  the 
whole  in  the  cineritous  matter  of  the  brain,  and  thus, 
identifying  mind  with  sublimated  nerve  force,  ends 
in  pure,  though  covert  materialism. 

Still  further,  the  theory,  as  just  hinted,  thoroughly 
ignores  certain  cardinal  facts  in  the  nature  and  ope- 
ration of  the  moral  powers,  which  underlie  all  just 
and  effective  application  of  government  to  the  ra- 
tional subject.  Assuming  complacently,  as  it  does, 
that  the  intimations  of  nature  in  the  chain  of  phys- 
ical causation  are  a  sufficient  guide  to  the  conse- 
quential discipline  of  those  higher  offenses  which  are 
either  chiefly  or  exclusively  moral,  it  practically  de- 
nies the  following  facts : 

First.  That  it  is  fully  within  the  power  of  a  de- 
praved will  to  destroy  all  natural  reaction  of  the 
moral  nature,  so  that  no  such  moral  punishment  will 
be  possible  within  the  consciousness  of  the  offender. 
Thus,  a  person  may,  from  the  influence  of  evil  asso- 
ciations, from  the  strength  of  habit,  or  from  the  power 


THEOPJES  :    NATURAL  REACTION  SCHEME.  199 

of  a  depraved  propensity,  have  come  to  have  the 
reason  so  perverted  in  its  apprehension,  and  the  con- 
science so  benumbed  in  its  sensibility,  that  the  com- 
mission of  crimes  of  no  inconsiderable  magnitude, 
may  awaken  no  inconvenient  consciousness  whatever. 
For  example,  how  often  do  profanity,  falsehood,  or 
petty  theft,  occur  "and  give  no  sign"  of  any  painful 
sense  of  guilt,  shame,  or  remorse?  But  in  such  a 
case,  where  is  the  certain,  the  graduated,  the  inex- 
orable consequence,  that,  as  natural  reaction,  is  to 
serve  as  punishment  ? 

But  suppose  the  theorist  appeals  to  the  external 
effects  of  such  misdeeds, — their  influence  to  awaken 
displeasure  and  produce  reprehension,  in  others. 
Who  does  not  know  that  the  same  causes  may  have 
operated  to  make  another, — a  parent,  a  teacher,  a 
friend,  any  person  so  situated  as  to  become  cognizant 
of  the  offense  and  to  be  able  to  visit  his  displeasure 
as  a  natural  reaction  upon  the  offender, — who  does 
not  know  that  he  may  have  been  made  just  as  insen- 
sible to  the  criminal  character  of  the  act,  and  may 
have  come  to  be  just  as  much  beyond  the  reach  of 
any  painful  feelings  as  a  consequence  of  its  commis- 
sion, as  the  offender  himself  ?  How  many  persons 
are  entirely  unaffected  by  the  utterance  of  an  oath, 
or  a  petty  falsehood,  or  the  taking  of  some  fraudu- 
lent advantage  of  another.  In  these  cases,  where 
is  the  chance  for  that  displeasure,  or  withdrawal  of 
confidence,  or  censure  which  as  external  natural  re- 
actions may  serve  as  punishment  ?  "  But,"  says  the 
theorist,  "  the  offender  is  amenable  to  public  senti- 


200  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

merit."  Suppose,  however,  your  public  sentiment,  as 
it  often  is,  is  so  far  debased  as  to  have  no  voice  of 
condemnation,  then  what  ?  There  are  communities 
where  sabbath-breaking,  polygamy  or  licentiousness, 
do  not  shock  the  public  sensibility  at  all ;  nay, 
where  the  abuses  are  even  justified :  where  are  the 
natural  reactions  here  ? 

The  truth  is,  while  the  physical  reactions,  upon 
which  the  whole  scheme  is  so  plausibly  based,  are 
somewhat  certain  and  constant  the  world  over,  the 
moral  reactions,  whether  internal  or  external,  indi- 
vidual or  social,  are  so  subject  to  the  contingencies 
of  voluntary  action,  and  are,  hence,  so  variable  and 
uncertain,  that  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  attempt 
could  be  made  to  reason  conclusively  from  the  former 
to  the  latter,  with  an  intelligent  or  honest  purpose. 

As  a  final  objection  to  this  theory,  we  urge  this ; 
that  its  proposed  provisions  for  the  correction  of  of- 
fenses fail  altogether  to  distinguish  the  authoritative 
from  the  general,  or  non-authoritative,  in  discipline  : 
it  wholly  excludes  the  very  idea  fundamental  and 
necessary  to  all  government ;  namely,  that  of  proper 
sovereignty.  To  present  this  more  clearly,  take, 
for  example,  the  case  of  one  who,  having  eaten  to 
excess,  becomes  as  a  natural  consequence  violently 
ill.  Now  the  philosophical  thinker  may,  in  tracing  out 
the  line  of  causation,  discover  in  the  painful  result  of 
the  excessive  indulgence,  an  indication  of  the  Divine 
will  in  favor  of  temperance  as  a  virtue,  and  against 
gluttony  as  a  vice.  But  not  so  with  the  mass  of 
mind.     To  such  mind,  the  ultimate  authority  is  prac- 


THEORIES  :    NATURAL  REACTION   SCHEME.  201 

tically  submerged  in  mere  natural  causation.  The 
whole  occurrence,  being  bounded  within  the  fixed  and 
every  way  ordinary  circuit  of  natural  laws,  is,  and  we 
may  almost  add,  can  only  be,  apprehended  as  a  thing 
in  nature,  and  not  at  all  in  an  authority  or  govern- 
ment as  beyond  and  above  nature.  Hence,  the  al- 
most universal  experience  of  mankind  is,  that  such 
occurrences  are  apprehended  as  involving  simply  an 
error  in  action,  and  serving  as  an  admonition  to  the 
exercise  of  higher  wisdom  or  prudence ;  and  not  at 
all,  as  embracing  direct  guilt,  and  demanding  atone- 
ment and  subsequent  obedience  to  rightful  sover- 
eignty. 

Still  further,  take  the  case  of  a  child  who  has  been 
guilty  of  falsehood.  The  natural  external  reaction 
by  which  the  offense  is  to  be  corrected,  is  a  manifes- 
tation of  displeasure  and  of  withdrawn  confidence  in 
the  reliability  of  his  word.  But  suppose  the  offense 
to  have  come  equally  under  the  cognizance  of  A,  the 
parent,  and  B,  a  mere  acquaintance.  The  former 
holds  an  authoritative  relation  to  the  offender ;  the 
latter  only  a  general  relation.  Yet  the  reaction  is 
the  same  in  kind  in  the  case  of  both.  How  then  is 
this  reaction  as  penalty,  to  distinguish  the  authorita- 
tive from  the  non-authoritative ;  how  can  it  evince 
the  superior  rights  and  responsibilities  of  the  proper 
sovereignty  over  those  of  mere  association  and  gen- 
eral regard  for  virtue  ?  Hence,  so  far  as  the  "  indi- 
cation of  nature"  is  concerned,  the  stranger  is  as 
competent  to  apply  the  corrective,  or  the  punishment, 
as  the  parent.     But  this  is  abhorrent  to  the  common 


202  SCHOOL  DISCIPLINE. 

sense   of   mankind,  and  in   direct  conflict  with  the 
necessary  ideas  of  order  and  justice. 

Lastly,  we  objec t  to  this  theory  of  natural  reactions 
according  to  these  assumed  intimations  of  nature, 
that  it  disenables  the  collective  authority  of  civil  gov- 
ernment from  the  proper  censure  or  punishment  of 
offenses  against  its  rightful  sovereignty.  So  far  as 
individual  expressions  of  displeasure  or  manifestation 
of  impaired  confidence  are  concerned,  we  have  seen 
that  while  they  can  not  cover  the  required  ground 
necessary  for  the  recognition  or  maintenance  of  the 
authority,  they  are  still  possible.  But  collect  all  the 
individuals  in  a  commonwealth,  and  require  them  to 
be  represented  in  a  collective  authority  or  govern- 
ment proper,  and  where  are  we  to  find  those  direct 
expressions  of  look,  tone,  word  or  natural  action, 
which  can  effectively  say  to  the  offenders,  you  have 
committed  an  offense  ;  displeasure  is  felt ;  confidence 
is  withdrawn?  Conceive  of  the  culprit  as  under  a 
government  forbidden  to  go  beyond  the  limit  of  these 
natural  consequences  and  reactions,  or  any  others 
possible  in  strict  accordance  with  these  assumed  in- 
timations of  nature,  as  argued  from  the  primary  basis 
of  necessary  cause  and  effect  and  you  conceive  of  him 
as  in  the  very  realm  and  paradise  of  villainy.  Con- 
ceive of  a  government  so  conditioned,  and  you  may 
as  well  at  once  append  to  the  law  of  its  constitution 
the  memorable  item  added  by  Luther  to  the  twelve 
articles  drawn  up  by  the  rebel  fanatics  under  Mun- 
zer :  "  From  this  day  forth,  the  honorable  Council 
shall  be  powerless, — its  functions  shall  be  to  do  no- 


theories:  natural  reaction  scheme.         203 

thing, — it  shall  sit  as  an  idol  or  as  a  log, — the  com- 
mune shall  chew  its  meat  for  it,  and  it  shall  be  bound 
hand  and  foot." 

The  truth  is,  the  system  of  nature  can  only  compre- 
hend and  consider  the  being  under  her  administra- 
tion, as  simply  creature:  government  must  look 
farther,  and  hold  him  under  her  control  and  disci- 
pline, as  subject.  Under  the  former,  the  only  concep- 
tion of  that  which  lies  back  of,  and  is  installed  above, 
being,  is  that  of  superior  agency,  as  author :  under 
the  latter,  it  is  distinctly  that  of  supreme  power,  as 
authority.  Under  the  former,  therefore,  the  inflictions 
are  necessarily  causal,  or  consequential :  under  the 
latter,  they  must  be  positive  and  penal.  Hence,  it 
will  be  seen  that  government  proper  is  not  the  mere 
natural  or  constitutional  concurrence  of  creative 
power  and  product,  cause  and  effect.  It  is  rather  a 
distinct  positive  institution,  not  in  conflict  with  na- 
ture, but  rising  clearly  and  legitimately  above  nature ; 
adapted  to  the  higher  wants  of  associated  moral  be- 
ings, and  providing  for  the  attainment  of  ends  which 
nature  can  not  reach.  Of  this  character  precisely  are 
civil  governments,  and  as  such,  they  must  both  for  their 
own  manifestation  and  support,  be  privileged  to  em- 
ploy positive  inflictions, — those  very  "inflictions  of 
pain"  which  the  theory  stigmatizes  as  "  artificial  and 
unnecessary,"  and  of  which  judicial  condemnation, 
civil  disabilities,  "imprisonment  or  other  restraint," 
are  clear  and  well-defined  examples,  all  plausible  pre- 
tense to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  Government 
is  an  artificial  symbol  of  the  collective  sense  and  will 


204  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

of  the  community,  and  it  must  symbolize  its  own  sense 
and  will  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  by  corresponding 
artificial  means.  Hence,  we  urge  that  the  theory  of 
natural  reactions  is  objectionable  as  practically,  in 
its  proper  consummation,  subversive  of  civil  gov- 
ernment. 

Without  going  into  a  specific  application  of  these 
facts,  it  will  be  seen  generally  that,  inasmuch  as  these 
defects  in  the  theory  are  radical,  the  assumed  superi- 
ority of  its  application  to  the  moral  discipline  of 
the  child  in  the  school,  is  wholly  fallacious.  Under 
all  the  fair-seeming  philosophy  and  ingenious  reason- 
ings of  its  popular  advocate,  there  lies  a  broad  sub- 
stratum of  error  in  both  premises  and  inferences. 
This  error  should  not  be  allowed  to  escape  the  notice 
of  the  teacher.  Left  unconscious  of  its  presence  and 
nature,  he  will,  not  only  be  in  danger  of  being  divert- 
ed from  the  true  theory  of  government,  but  he  will  be 
disenabled  to  make  the  wisest  use  of  such  just  sug- 
gestions as  the  theory  really  contains. 

But  there  is  another  species  of  error  current  in 
society,  and  largely  affecting  the  views  of  educational 
reforms.  It  is  not  to  be  found  so  formally  developed 
in  theory  as  the  foregoing ;  but  is,  perhaps,  more 
widely  and  dangerously  operative  in  fact.  Super- 
ficially, its  relation  to  the  scheme  of  natural  reactions, 
may  not  be  readily  apparent.  But,  substantially,  the 
originating  and  animating  principle  is  the  same  in 
both.  What  that  principle  is,  and  how  it  leads  to  the 
two  results,  may  be  seen  as  follows.  Given  a  con- 
sciousness in  man  of  subjection  to  a  divine  moral 


THEORIES  :   HUMANITARIAN   SCHEME.  *  205 

government,  and  of  incurred  guilt  deserving  of  condign 
punishment,  the  anxious  problem  to  be  solved,  is,  how 
to  escape  a  just  subjection  to  positive  pains  and  pen- 
alties, beyond  the  present  state  of  being.  Now,  very 
clearly,  establish  the  principle  that,  under  a  system 
of  moral  discipline  among  men,  all  the  so-called  arti- 
ficial punishments  are  unnecessary  and  unjust :  or 
set  up  the  claim  that  the  authoritative  infliction  of 
positive  pain,  or  the  use  of  discipline  for  any  other 
than  reformatory  purposes,  is  inhumane,  or,  at  least, 
inconsistent  with  perfect  benevolence,  and  the  case  is 
apparently  gained.  Having  thus  shut  up  human  gov- 
ernment within  the  narrow  range  of  these  me^e  nat- 
ural consequences  of  transgression,  and  to  the  mere 
amiable  ends  of  humane  individual  reformation,  there 
is  but  a  step  from  that  to  tne  application  of  the  same 
laws  and  bounds  to  the  moral  government  of  God, 
the  result  of  which,  if  successful,  will  be  obvious. 
•  It  becomes  then  important  that  this  (for  want  of  a 
better  term)  humanitarian  scheme  of  discipline  should 
be  carefully  examined.  The  substance  of  its  outcry 
against  its  antagonistic  system  of  government  and 
discipline,  is  that  these  inflictions  of  pain  are  unphilo- 
sophical,  and  inhumane,  vindictive  rather  than  re- 
formatory. 

With  reference  to  the  question  of  philosophical 
consistency,  we  urge  the  following  considerations. 
First,  the  infliction  of  disciplinary  pain  is  the  very 
thing  directly  sustained  by  the  indications  of  nature. 
In  more  express  terms,  the  supreme  authority  in  na- 
ture everywhere  inflicts  pain  for  violations  of  his  de- 


206  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

mands.  True,  he  does  it  through  the  medium  of 
what  are  called  natural  laws.  But  that  neither  makes 
the  infliction  less  productive  of  pain,  or  less  an  act  of 
the  authority.  It  only  makes  it  the  clearer  that,  root- 
ed as  this  painful  species  of  corrective  discipline  is  in 
the  very  substratum  of  nature,  its  general  application 
under  contingent  modifications,  is  not  arbitrary  nor 
accidental :  it  is  fundamental  and  necessary.  It 
shows  that  the  right  to  inflict  disciplinary  pain  is  in- 
herent in  all  just  authority,  and  that  authoritative 
subjection  to  such  penal  infliction  is  a  necessary  con- 
tingency of  all  actual  transgression. 

Nor  does  the  more  manifest  connection  of  these 
painful  inflictions  in  nature  with  the  physical  side  of 
being,  invalidate  the  argument.  God,  in  nature,  no 
more  inflicts  pain  for  the  "mere  physical  results,  than 
does  man  in  society.  It  is  done  always  as  a  natural 
and  necessary  means  to  a  moral  end.  The  blow 
struck  upon  the  body,  in  the  case  of  him  who,  tram- 
pling on  the  laws  of  temperance,  suffers  the  pangs  of 
indigestion  or  the  horrors  of  delirium-tremens,  is  in- 
tended to  react  upon  the  soul,  which  cannot  other- 
wise be  reached  so  well.  The  outcry  of  nature  in  the 
pain  endured  is  not  against  the  hand  which  grasped 
the  means  of  excess,  nor  the  mouth  which  took  in 
the  forbidden  elements,  nor  the  stomach  which  re- 
ceived and  endeavored  to  appropriate  them ;  but  it  is 
raised  against  the  sinful  spirit  which  demanded  the 
base  subservience  of  these  instruments  in  its  bodily 
nature,  to  its  sensual  desires  and  depraved  will.  And 
thus  the  divine  authority  in  nature  stands  as  a  proto- 


THEORIES  :   HUMANITARIAN   SCHEME.  207 

type  for  the  human  authority  in  society,  in  its  strug- 
gle to  repress  the  evil  and  preserve  the  good  for  the 
great  ends  of  the  common  weal. 

Nor  is  it  any  just  counter-plea,  that,  in  nature,  it  is 
God  who  disciplines  by  pain,  while  under  civil  or 
social  law,  it  is  only  usurping  man.  In  nature,  God 
has,  for  the  necessary  stability  of  being  itself,  main- 
tained himself  in  immediate  presence  and  active  au- 
thority. But  in  human  society,  he  has,  for  the  sake 
of  conferred  free  agency,  and  the  development  of 
voluntary  capacity,  responsibility  and  power,  with- 
drawn himself,  as  it  were,  from  the  immediate  control, 
and  imposed  its  exercise,  with  all  its  prerogatives  and 
liabilities,  upon  the  human  agency  itself.  Proper 
human  government  is,  in  this  sense,  a  delegated  vice- 
gerent of  God  himself ;  and  it  is  thus  that  "  the  powers 
that  be,"  whether  domestic,  scholastic,  civil,  or  eccle- 
siastical, "  are  ordained  of  God."  And  that  such  au- 
thorities can  not  discipline  by  natural  laws,  as  does 
God  in  nature,  is  no  argument  that  they  must  not 
administer  correction  by  means  of  what  are  stigmatiz- 
ed as  "  artificial  inflictions  of  pain."  The  prerogative 
of  ruling  is  not  delegated  without  the  right  to  the 
means  of  discipline  ;  and  those  means,  as  has  already 
been  seen,  involve  the  positive  reaching  of  the  refrac- 
tory spirit,  through  the  avenues  of  the  bodily  organ- 
ism, and  in  just  such  ways  as  are  practicable  and 
effective,  whether  in  accordance  with  the  ordinary 
laws  of  nature  or  uot.  Indeed,  it  is  not  yet  in  proof, 
that  even  the  Divine  Euler,  in  dealing  with  the  more 
exclusive  forms  of  moral  delinquency,  has  restricted 


208  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

himself  to  the  narrow  range  of  corrective  means  in 
simple  cause  and  effect,  as  he  does  in  the  case  of  the 
violation  of  physical  laws. 

In  the  second  place,  as  to  the  plea  of  inhumanity, 
which  is  sometimes  urged  in  objection,  it  is  equally 
fallacious.  The  withholding  of  painful  inflictions  is 
not  necessarily  humane,  for  it  is  not  clear  to  any  ob- 
serving and  candid  mind,  that  pain  is  necessarily  an 
evil.  Nay,  the  natural  reactionist  himself,  and  in 
accordance  with  the  common-sense  of  mankind,  ad- 
mits the  benevolent  utility  of  pain  in  its  physical  re- 
lations, as  a  necessary  means  to  a  merciful  end :  in 
other  words,  it  is,  in  the  perfect  circle  of  related  being 
and  action,  an  absolute  good.  Not  less  distinctly  has 
it,  in  all  human  government,  been  accepted  as  the 
same,  and  both  under  the  same  general  law,  and  for 
the  same  general  reason.  Furthermore,  if  in  nature, 
where  only  the  preservation  of  individual  being  is  the 
cardinal  end  to  be  attained,  the  infliction  of  pain  is  a 
necessary  good,  much  more,  may  it  be  reasonably 
argued,  is  it  both  just  and  true  in  the  society  or 
the  state,  where  a  broader  and  more  comprehensive 
being  than  that  of  the  mere  individual  is  concerned, 
and  higher  and  more  imperative  interests  than  that 
of  mere  existence,  are  at  stake. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  these  objections  against 
the  infliction  of  pain  are  due  in  good  part  to  certain 
errors  which  characterize  these  humanitarian  schem- 
ists,  in  general.  One  of  these  is,  that,  with  a  vision 
narrowed  by  false  sympathy  with  suffering,  they  see 
with  effective  sharpness,  only  the  suffering  individual, 


theories:  reformatory  scheme.  209 

while  all  the  broad  surrounding  circle  of  related  life 
and  interest  is  lost  in  vague  imperception.  Or,  if 
they  at  all  perceive  the  vital  nature  and  claims  of 
society  as  a  whole,  they  have,  by  beginning  with  the 
study  of  the  individual  sufferer  under  law,  so  im- 
paired the  habit  and  grasp  of  the  apprehension,  that 
when  it  has  even  worked  up  and  out  to  the  surround- 
ing breadth  of  the  social  or  civil  organism,  they  be- 
hold it  only  as  a  thing  reduced  and  remote.  They 
have  bent  their  gaze  upon  it,  only  through  the  in- 
verted glass.  If  they  would  but  reverse  the  process ; 
if  they  would  but  begin  with  the  greater  interests  of 
the  organic  whole,  with  the  majesty  and  responsibility 
of  government  as  the  sole  conservator  of  those  inter- 
ests, and  thence  descend  to  the  proper  claims  of  the 
individual  offender,  they  would  obtain  better  and 
broader  conceptions  of  the  nature  and  prerogatives 
of  discipline  ;  they  would  discover  how  much  greater 
the  whole  is  than  any  of  its  parts,  how  much  more 
important  to  be  avoided  are  the  pangs  of  dissolute 
or  dissolving  society,  than  the  pains  of  the  individual 
transgressor  who  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  human 
justice. 

With  reference  to  the  remaining  error, — that  of 
assuming  the  office  of  governmental  discipline  to  be 
primarily  and  chiefly  reformatory, — there  occurs  an 
inversion  of  the  order  of  things,  no  less  transparent 
than  in  the  former  case.  Indeed  a  perversely  upside 
down  philosophy  seems  to  be  the  peculiar  penchant 
of  these  theorizers.  Now  the  reformation  of  the 
guilty  may,  and    should   somewhere,  be   an  object 


210  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

sought ;  but  rather  within  the  sphere  of  individual 
philanthropy  than  governmental  control.  The  phil- 
anthropic element  in  government,  so  far  as  it  has  a 
place,  must  concern  itself  rather  with  the  general 
welfare.  Hence,  to  all  true  government,  the  first  and 
highest  end,  is  the  twofold  preservation  of  the  loyal 
and  innocent :  first,  their  preservation  as  a  tody 
politic,  intact  and  secnre  from  the  encroachments  of 
the  disloyal  and  vicious  ;  and  secondly,  their  preser- 
vation generally  from  any  endangered  loss  of  their 
own  purity  and  rectitude,  as  induced  by  the  baleful 
presence  among  them  of  uncurbed  example  and 
crimes  "  unwhipped  of  justice."  The  former,  it  se- 
cures by  the  restraints  and  disabilities  it  imposes 
upon  transgressors,  and  the  latter  by  the  inflicted 
penalties  and  pains  which  stand  as  a  perpetual  warn- 
ing to  those  who  have  not  yet  fallen.  And  we  are 
bold  to  say,  further,  that  under  no  true  theory  of 
government,  can  any  other  than  this  first  and  highest 
end  be  directly  proposed ;  the  reformatory  end,  where 
it  is  sought,  being  so  properly,  only  as  a  means  to 
the  better  preservation  of  the  innocent.  This  it  ef- 
fects by  securing  their  more  thorough  protection 
against  any  further  trespass  upon  their  rights  by 
the  criminal  as  once  brought  to  justice  and  through 
that,  if  reformed,  restored  to  positive  rectitude. 

The  application  of  these  broad  and  comprehensive 
principles  to  the  use  of  disciplinary  penalties  and 
pains  in  our  schools,  as  it  regards  both  their  utility 
and  natural  consistency,  is  henceforth  so  clear  that 
we  mijrht  venture  to  leave  its  further  consideration 


theories:  reformatory  scheme.  211 

to  the  sound  sense  of  the  teacher  himself.  And  yet, 
we  doubt  not  there  will  arise  in  some  minds,  more 
tender  in  feeling  than  vigorous  in  thought,  the  pain- 
fully present  and  pressing  question,  "  Is  there,  then, 
no  escape  from  the  necessity  of  employing  means  of 
-correction  so  seemingly  pitiless  and  repulsive  ?" 
'  To  this  question,  Ave  can  only  answer  frankly,  no, 
not  until  there  shall  appear  in  the  present  state,  some 
new  and  nobler  incarnation  of  the  human  spirit  with 
both  a  regenerated  moral  nature  and  a  restored  per- 
fection of  the  physical  being.  So  long  as  man  shall 
continue  to  exist  as  a  free  moral  agent,  controlled, 
nevertheless,  by  a  depraved  will,  and  bound  in  sub- 
jection to  a  material  organism  ;  so  long  it  cannot  be 
otherwise,  than  that,  transgressing  the  higher  laws  of 
the  spiritual  essence  within  him,  he  must  in  some  part, 
for  both  his  own  good  and  that  of  society,  be  reined 
in  and  driven  back  from  evil  doing,  by  those  stem 
mandates  which  can  only  send  their  living  utterances 
to  the  soul,  through  the  roused  sensibilities  of  the 
bodily  nature. 

The  only  question,  then,  which  the  practical  teacher 
can  raise  with  just  reasonableness,  is,  how  can  the 
necessity  for  the  use  oi  these  penal  inflictions  in  the 
school,  be  reduced  to  its  minimum  ?  This  question 
admits  of  a  more  hopeful  and  happy  answer.  That 
answer  embraces  several  practical  suggestions. 

First.  The  necessity  for  the  use  of  penal  inflictions 
in  the  school  can  be  largely  reduced  by  the  careful 
institution  of  such  a  wise  and  noble  order  in  both 
arrangement  and  management,  as  will,  as  has  already 


212  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

been  shown,  materially  diminish  the  occasions  for 
transgression,  and  infuse  into  the  minds  of  the  pupils, 
a  deeper  interest  and  a  higher  ambition. 

Secondly.  It  may  be  further  reduced  by  the  insti- 
tution of  such  exact  and  effective  discipline, — to  be 
fully  discussed  hereafter, — as  will  create  a  prevailing 
conviction  through  all  its  ranks,  of  the  inevitable 
certainty  of  detection  and  just  punishment. 

Thirdly.  The  last  and  crowning  means  of  com- 
pleting this  reduction, — means,  alas,  too  seldom  and 
too  feebly  employed, — is  to  be  found  in  the  earnest 
and  prominent  use  of  moral  instruction  in  the  school ; 
not  the  mere  incidental  enunciation  of  a  stale  and 
lifeless  ethics, — an  ethics  discharged  of  all  religious 
principle,  a  mere  moral  cadaver  with  no  divine  in- 
dwelling and  energizing  spirit, — but  the  steady  and 
systematic  pressing  upon  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
the  pupils,  of  those  great  laws  and  obligations  which, 
as  both  moral  arid  religious,  are  the  sole  foundation 
for  all  pure  and  perfected  character. 

This,  we  are  well  aware,  is  broadly  broaching  the 
much-mooted  question,  whether  or  not,  moral  instruc- 
tion should  be  introduced  into  schools  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  state,  as  a  fixed  «part  of  its  educational 
system, — a  question  the  solution  of  which  we  regard 
as  neither  doubtful  nor  difficult.  That  solution,  how- 
ever, is  possible,  only  under  the  condition  that  a  just 
view  be  taken  of  the  end  to  be  sought  by  the  state  in 
establishing  a  system  of  popular  education.  For, 
what  the  state  must  seek  as  its  end,  determines  what 


theories:  reformatory  scheme.  213 

the  state  must  do  with  moral  instruction  as  a  means 
to  that  end.  % 

Let  it  then  be  understood  at  the  outset,  that  inas- 
much as  government  is  instituted,  not  by  the  individ- 
ual, but  by  the  community;  and  inasmuch  as  it  is 
established,  not  for  the  individual  benefit,  but  for  the 
public  good,  its  entire  province  and  prerogative  must 
be  limited  by  its  responsibility  to  the  commonwealth, 
for  the  common  weal.  Hence,  government  must  be 
made  to  look  municipally, — if  we  may  be  allowed  the 
word, — at  the  state,  and  not  individually  at  the  man ; 
it  must  be  moved  by  an  economical  regard  for  the 
good  of  the  state,  and  not  by  a  mere  humane  concern 
for  the  person ;  it  must  act  to  the  one  comprehensive 
end,  the  conservation  and  advancement  of  the  state, 
and  not  for  the  simple,  prior  or  prominent  object  of 
benefiting  *of  the  individual.  That  these  secondary 
objects  concerning  the  mere  individual  man,  may  be, 
and,  under  any  proper  administration  of  government, 
must  be  attained,  is  freely  granted ;  but  it  is  as  firmly 
maintained,  that  they  are  not,  and  never  may  be,  a 
proper  end  or  direct  object  of  government  as  such. 
The  first,  sole,  proper  and  direct  object  of  the  state, 
then,  must  be  its  own  conservation  and  advancement, 
its  own  perpetuity,  its  own  prosperity, — these  are  its 
objects  of  concern,  its  ends  of  action. 

Hence,  not  at  all  for  the  simple  direct  sake  of  any 
person  or  persons  as  such ;  not  at  all  for  his  or  their 
advantage,  other  than  as  the  merest  consequent  of  its 
legitimate  action,  may  any  proper  government  provide 
schools  and  instruction  for  the  people.     Only  to  this 


214  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

end  may  it  do  that, — that  there  may  be  possible  in 
the  stateythat  highest  and  purest  exercise  of  political 
rights  among  the  people,  which  will  ensure  in  the  state 
the  wisest  constitution,  the  ablest  administration,  and 
the  most  enduring  permanence  of  government,  and 
through  these,  the  true  dignity,  stability  and  pros- 
perity of  the  state  itself.  In  other  words,  only  to 
the  end  of  its  own  conservation  and  advancement, 
may  the  state  ever  establish  or  maintain  a  system  of 
public  instruction. 

Here,  then,  the  question,  always  pertinent,  becomes 
actually  vital ;  is  mere  intellectual  or  scientific  culture 
enough  to  meet  the  conditions  of  the  case ;  is  that 
sufficient  to  render  a  state  system  of  public  instruc- 
tion either  competent  to  the  attainment  of  the  desired 
end,  or  consistent  with  it?  Give  the  people  such 
culture  only,  and  will  that  ensure  in  themr,  and  from 
them,  such  combined  intelligence,  virtue  and  loyalty, 
as  will  secure  the  state,  for  all  time,  against  its  most 
dangerous  enemies,  popular  ignorance,  social  corrup- 
tion, and  political  abandonment.  Will  such  a  culture 
make  a  people  both  intelligent  and  virtuous,  and  as 
virtuous  as  intelligent, — this  is  the  question,  and  a 
vital  one  it  is. 

What  now  is  the  inevitable  answer  to  this  question  ? 
Let  us  see.  What  says  history  ?  All  history  teaches 
us,  that  popular  advancement  in  the  arts  and  sciences, 
without  a  corresponding  growth  in  morality  and  re- 
ligion, has  been  always  and  only  an  increased  refine- 
ment in  individual  and  national  wickedness,  a  more 
skilful  and  subtle  abuse  of  power,  and  a  change  of  the 


THEORIES  :   REFORMATORY   SCHEME.  215 

mere  form  of  civil  destruction,  from  external  crush  and 
demolition,  to  a  secret  and  subtle,  yet  sure  sap  and 
subversion. 

And  what  says  philosophy  ?  All  philosophy  teaches, 
that,  for  every  increase  of  poAver  in  the  subjected  ob- 
ject, there  must  be  a  corresponding  augmentation  of 
strength  in  the  controlling  agent,  and  that  every 
advance  in  individual  knowledge,  is  an  augmentation 
of  power,  for  which  there  can  be  no  corresponding 
increase  of  control,  other  than  that  found  in  a  corre- 
sponding growth  and  ascendancy  of  moral  principle. 

And  what  says  simple  common  sense  ?  Common 
sense  urges,  that  it  is  the  fact  that  in  all  enlightened 
countries  and  communities,  intellectual  and  moral 
culture  are,  in  some  way  or  other,  so  associated  or 
run  parallel,  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  dissever 
them  for  the  purpose  of  exemplification  and  compar- 
ison ;  and  that  this  fact  alone  is  enough  to  establish 
the  existence  of  a  relation  between  them,  at  once  so 
natural  and  necessary,  that  to  ignore  it  either  in 
theory  or  practice,  and  so  to  dissever  moral  instruc- 
tion from  intellectual  or  scientific  culture,  is  simply  to 
make  an  educational  system  stultify  itself. 

Without  appealing  to  specific  examples,  and  with- 
out pressing  the  argument  from  principles  further,  it 
must  be  seen  from  what  has  been  advanced,  that  the 
original  question  ought  never  to  have  been  entertain- 
ed at  all ;  and  that  the  only  consistent  form  in  which 
it  can  present  itself,  is  rather  this,  ought  moral  in- 
struction ever  to  be  neglected  or  even  subordinated 
in  our  public  schools  r    What  position,  or  what  promi- 


216  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

nence  should  be  assigned  to  moral  instruction  ?  may 
be  discussed  :  that  it  should  have  some  place  and  im- 
portance, is  a  foregone  conclusion. 

There  are  those,  however,  who  will  argue,  that  ob- 
servation by  no  means  shows,  that  the  lack  of  this 
distinct  moral  culture  in  our  schools  is  productive  of 
that  uncurbed  and  therefore  destructive  intelligence 
to  which  reference  has  been  made.  The  answer  to 
this  objection  is  immediately  and  conclusively  this, 
that  the  non-occurrence  of  that  dangerous  result  is 
not  due  to  the  non-existence  of  a  natural  cause  for  it ; 
but  to  the  existence  of  important  and,  to  a  certain 
extent,  redeeming  influences  operating  on  our  youth 
outside  of  the  schools,  and  accidentally  affording  them 
a  certain  proportion  of  the  lacking  moral  culture. 

Others  may  urge,  that,  even  if  the  moral  culture 
were  not  thus  incidentally  secured,  the  laws  would 
afford  the  state  an  adequate  protection  against  this 
unprincipled  or  demoralized  intelligence.  To  this  it 
is  sufficient  to  answer,  that,  not  only  is  there  outside 
of  the  exact  letter  of  the  laws,  a  wide  margin  for  the 
most  vicious  and  dangerous  exercise  of  such  intelli- 
gence, but  there  is  in  this  very  intelligence,  and  sim- 
ply because  it  is  corrupt,  a  power  equal  to  the  most 
triumphant  evasion,  if  not  the  actual  defiance  of  the 
laws. 

As  to  those  other  objections,  urged,  perhaps,  some- 
times honestly,  but  intelligently  perhaps  never,  that 
this  necessary  moral  instruction  can  better  be  given 
elsewhere,  and  therefore  should  be,  or  that  its  intro- 
duction into  our  schools  will  make  them  sectarian ; 


THEORIES  :   MORAL   SUASION   SCHEME.  217 

it  is  sufficient  to  say,  that  they  do  not  commend  them- 
selves enough  to  the  simplest  common  sense,  to  claim 
either  a  specific  notice  or  a  formal  refutation.  When 
it  shall  be  shown  that  it  is  possible,  not  to  say  pro- 
fitable, to  dissever  the  intellectual  and  moral  faculties 
in  their  exercise  and  development,  in  this  manner ;  or 
when  it  shall  appear  that  ethics,  by  being,  for  the 
sake  of  convenience,  considered  apart  from  mental 
science,  becomes  a  body  of  sectarian  dogmas,  rather 
than  a  system  of  universal  principles ;  in  other  words, 
when  it  shall  become  clear,  that  we  are  to  build  the 
most  wisely  and  successfully,  by  first  laying  up  the 
brick,  and  then  elsewhere,  and  by  other  hands,  in- 
serting the  mortar;  or  when  it  shall  have  become 
manifest,  that  to  lay  the  brick  with  the  mortar,  con- 
temporaneously and  conjunctively,  is  to  interfere  with 
the  rights  of  both  builder  and  owner,  and  actually  to 
destroy  the  catholic  excellence  of  the  masonry ; — 
when  this  shall  be,  the  time  for  a  formal  notice  of 
those  objections  may  have  come  :  come  before  it  can 
not ;  and  till  it  can,  we  dismiss  them. 

Of  the  exclusive  Moral  Suasion  Scheme,  so  much 
harped  upon  by  certain  shallow  theorists,  no  distinct 
notice  will  be  taken  here,  for  the  reasons,  that  it  is 
substantially  identical  in  spirit  and  philosophy  with 
those  already  considered ;  taken  by  itself,  it  is  a  mere 
castle  in  the  air ;  and  if  it  needs  to  be  refuted  at  all, 
it  is  sufficiently  met  by  the  general  principles  herein 
urged  at  large. 


CHAPTEK    XI. 

GENERAL    ELEMENTS    CONTINUED — DISCIPLINE: — PENAL 
CORRECTION,  OR  PUNISHMENT. 

Punishment  defined— Its  necessary  elements— Authoritative  infliction — 
Act  of  proper  authority — Infliction  of  an  actual  suffering— Process 
through  which  effective — Enlightens  the  intellect — Arouses  the  sensibili- 
ties—Moves the  will— Infliction  must  be  for  the  support  of  law,  and 
for  the  general  welfare — Punishments  classified  as  Privative  and  Positive 
— Defined— Privative  distinguished,  as  Primitive  and  Retractive — Right 
to  punish  by  deprivation  sustained— Consequent  superiority  of  con- 
ditional rewards — Necessity  for  positive  punishments — Positive  pun- 
ishments defined — Relation  to  the  privative — Positive  classified  as  Pri- 
vative, Coercive  and  Compulsive — Coercive  described — Essential  points 
to  be  secured — Actual  abandonment  of  the  wrong — Correction  of  its 
ovil  results— Reparation  to  the  government  as  such — Voluntariness  in 
the  whole — Coercive  classified,  as  reprimands,  loss  of  privilege,  restraint 
or  confinement,  corporal  punishment,  and  final  exclusion—  General 
Pules  for  infliction— Positive  detection  must  precede— Punishment 
must  be  well  considered — Must  be  thorough — Administered  with  de- 
liberatcness — Must  be  public — Objections  to  publicity  considered — Spring 
from  false  sympathy  or  pride — Publicity  necessary  to  the  full  effect  of 
the  discipline — Proper  infliction  of  punishment  not  brutalizing — 
The  infliction  of  the  punishment  to  be  followed  by  moral  efforts — 
Evil  of  neglecting  these — Specific  methods — For  correlative  rewards 
and  punishments — For  public  reprimands — For  bodily  restraint — Ob- 
jectionable restraints  —  Particular  consideration  of  detention  after 
school — Method  for  corporal  punishment — Objectionable  inflictions 
— Compulsive  correction — Nature  and  use  illustrated — Grounds  of  its 
reasonableness — Objection  to  involuntariness  answered — Final  exclu- 
sion— Occasion  of  its  existence — Must  be  held  as  a  last  resort — Is  less 
a  common  necessity  than  is  supposed  —  Specific  method— Must  be 
followed  by  reclamatory  efforts — Summary  abandonment  of  offenders 
a  social  vice. 

Proceeddig  to  the  proper  discussion  of  penal  cor- 
rection, we  define  punishment  to  be, — as  it  is  accepted 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  I   PUNISHMENT.  219 

in  the  common  sense  of  mankind, — the  authoritative 
infliction,  by  some  properly  constituted  sovereignty, 
of  some  species  of  pain  or  suffering  upon  offenders, 
because  of  their  wilful  violations  of  lawful  require- 
ment, and  for  the  sake  of  sustaining  the  majesty  of 
government,  and  securing  the  common  weal. 

In  the  thorough  consideration  of  the  several  ele- 
ments embraced  in  the  definition,  it  will  be  observed, 
first,  that  punishment  must  be  an  authoritative  inflic- 
tion, as  opposed  to  mere  consequential  results.  In 
other  words,  for  reasons  already  discussed  at  length, 
consequences  are  not  to  be  accepted  as,  in  any  proper 
sense,  punishments. 

Again,  the  infliction  must  be  the  act  of  a  properly 
constituted  authority.  Proceeding  from  any  other 
source  than  such  authority,  it  loses  all  legality  and, 
in  losing  its  legality,  it  becomes  simply  an  abuse  or, 
if  you  will^  an  outrage.  Thus,  suppose  that  the  child 
committing  some  act  in  known  violation  of  parental 
law,  to  be  caught  and  chastised  by  a  passer-by ;  or  a 
public  offender  to  be  seized  and  subjected  to  summary 
retribution  by  the  private  citizen,  and  in  neither  case 
would  the  act  be  held  to  be  as  legitimate,  or  the  inflic- 
tion be  counted  as  punishment.  Nay,  both  of  these 
self-constituted  ministers  of  justice,  would  be  them- 
selves held  as  transgressors.  Nor,  indeed,  is  this  all, 
the  act  must  be  that  of  the  proper  authority,  and  no 
other.  Thus  if,  for  example,  the  parent  chastises  the 
child  for  some  violation  of  school  regulations  not  at 
all  embraced  in  his  own  rules  or  directions,  or  if,  in  a 
higher  field,  one  state  authority  should  inflict  penal- 


220  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

ties  for  crimes  committed  within  the  jurisdiction,  or 
against  the  laws  of  another  commonwealth,  the  act 
would,  in  both  cases,  be  one  of  usurpation  or  tyranny. 

Punishment  must,  furthermore,  involve  the  inflic- 
tion of  something  actually  counted  by  the  offender  as 
an  evil ;  and  as  such  t  must  be  capacitated  to  occa- 
sion painful  restraint  or  actual  suffering.  For  reasons 
already  noticed  as  existing  in  the  depraved  condition 
and  vicious  power  of  the  will,  if  government  be  stop- 
ped short  of  this  extreme  of  its  prerogative  in  inflic- 
tion, its  penal  inflictions  are,  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
reduced  to  a  sham  and  a  failure.  The  susceptibilities 
of  the  culprit  are,  of  course,  not  to  determine  the  na- 
ture or  the  measure  of  the  infliction ;  but,  whatever 
the  government  shall  adjudge  it  to  be,  it  must  be  a 
something  real  to  the  offender,  and  probably  sufficient 
to  reach  his  will  effectively.  This,  however,  is  not 
to  take  ground  that,  in  individual  cases,  in  which 
it  may  fail  to  be  thus  effective,  it  is  to  be  forborne ; 
for  government  has  other  ends  in  its  infliction,  other 
than  that  of  the  mere  correction  of  the  offender.  The 
deterring  of  the  yet  innocent,  from  the  commission 
of  similar  crimes,  may  be  itself  a  sufficient  ground  for 
the  infliction,  even  when  the  offender  is  already  clearly 
hardened  beyond  the  reach  of  its  influence. 

The  process  through  which  the  punishment  is  to 
reach  and  affect  either  the  guilty  or  the  innocent,  in 
order  that  the  ends  of  discipline  may  be  attained,  is 
as  follows.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  designed  to  bring 
the  intellect  to  a  consciousness  of  the  reality  and  the 
magnitude  of  the  offense,  by  presenting  to  it  a  posi- 


GENEIIAL  ELEMENTS:   PUNISHMENT.  221 

tive  symbol  of  the  views  and  feelings  of  the  offended 
sovereignty.  Its  language  is  to  this  effect;  in  the 
measure  of  the  care  taken  to  bring  you  to  condign 
punishment,  and  in  the  measure  of  the  pains  inflicted 
upon  you,  behold  the  measure  of  that  wrong  which 
you  have  inflicted  upon  pure  rectitude,  and  of  that 
outrage  which  you  have  committed  against  the  maj- 
esty of  law. 

Secondly.  It  is  designed  to  awaken  in  the  sensi- 
bility, a  distinct  feeling  of  the  reality  and  hoinousness 
of  the  offense  committed.  This  it  effects,  partly 
through  the  foregoing  influence  to  enlighten  the  intel- 
lect, and  partly  through  pressing  upon  the  culprit,  in 
a  sense  of  the  pains  he  bears,  a  feeling  of  the  loss  or 
the  evil  he  himself  incurs,  and  of  the  necessary  folly 
or  turpitude  of  the  act  which  was  an  adequate  cause 
for  the  infliction  of  such  suffering. 

Thirdly.  Through  the  intellect  and  the  sensibili- 
ties as  already  affected,  it  is  designed  to  reach  the 
will,  presenting  to  it  motives,  from  either  conviction, 
desire  or  fear,  calculated  to  restrain  or  reverse  its  evil 
purposes,  and  thus  operating  to  prevent,  not  only  the 
repetition  of  the  evil  act  for  which  the  punishment  is 
inflicted,  but  also  the  commission  of  others  for  which 
it  may  be  justly  demanded. 

The  deterring  effect  of  punishment  upon  the  inno- 
cent, is  reached  through  much  the  same  process,  dif- 
fering only  in  this,  that  the  operation  is  one  of  obser- 
vation rather  than  experience.  It  is,  in  their  case, 
the  more  hopeful,  inasmuch  as  there  is  yet  no  actual 
guilt  to  cloud  the  apprehension,  to  warp  the  judg- 


222  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

ment  or  benumb  the  feelings.  Hence,  the  suffering, 
though  only  witnessed,  sheds  a  clearer  light  upon  the 
offended  majesty  of  the  law,  upon  the  magnitude  of 
the  offense,  and  upon  the  bitterness  of  transgression 
in  its  individual  consequences. 

Finally.  The  punishment  must  be  inflicted  for  no 
merely  vindictive  or  even  reformatory  ends.  Its  grand 
object  is,  directly,  the  sustaining  of  law,  and  through 
that,  the  ultimate  preservation  of  the  common  wel- 
fare. Whenever  it  degenerates  from  this,  and  is 
made  to  compass  individual  or  inferior  ends  alone, 
the  punishment  becomes  less  condemnatory  of  the 
culprit,  than  of  the  authority  which  applies  it. 

Passing  now  to  the  specific  consideration  of  pun- 
ishments, we  classify  them  as  of  two  general  species  : 
Privative  and  Positive. 

Under  privative  punishment,  we  include  every  au- 
thoritative deprivation  of  rights,  privileges  or  honors, 
of  which  the  pupil  has,  by  his  misdemeanors,  wrought 
just  forfeiture.  Of  these  punishments,  it  is  proper  to 
remark  that  they  embrace  all  of  the  so-called  natural 
reactions  that  are  really  valuable  ;  and  their  natural 
restriction  to  this  head,  is  itself  a  proof  of  the  insuf- 
ficiency of  those  reactions  as  a  sole  means  of  moral 
discipline.  These  punishments,  hence,  form  a  sort  of 
connecting  link  between  purely  consequential  evils 
and  proper  punishments. 

These  privative  punishments  may  be  considered  as 
of  two  kinds ;  Primitive,  or  the  subtraction  of  such 
rights  or  privileges  as  may,  either  naturally  or  by  the 
action  of  some  antecedent  authority,  have  been  confer- 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:   PUNISHMENT.  223 

red  upon  the  pupil :  and  Retractive,  or  the  resumption 
by  the  teacher  of  such  privileges  or  honors  as  may 
have  been  authoritatively  conferred  by  him,  upon 
the  pupil,  either  as  specific  rewards  or  otherwise. 

As  illustrative  of  these,  may  be  cited,  the  depriving 
of  the  pupil  of  the  right  to  a  recess  or  play  spell ;  of 
the  privilege  of  holding  some  favorite  seat,  or  some 
post  of  honor  in  a  class ;  or  of  the  possession  of  some 
badge  of  distinction  or  token  of  the  teacher's  ap- 
proval and  esteem.  Others  will  naturally  occur  to 
the  thoughtful  teacher,  either  as  originally  suggested, 
or  as  naturally  indicated  by  the  peculiar  method  of 
reward  adopted  in  his  own  system  of  discipline. 

Of  the  right  of  the  teacher  to  inflict  such  depriva- 
tion, there  can  hardly  be  any  question.  As  the  abso- 
lute conservator  of  those  rights,  and  author  of  those 
privileges  or  honors,  the  teacher  must  as  truly  possess 
a  negative,  as  well  as  a  positive,  control  over  them. 
He  must  have  as  truly  the  power  to  say,  when  the 
welfare  of  the  school  demands  it,  these  shall  not  be, 
as  to  declare,  they  shall  be.  Furthermore,  all  rights 
are  guaranteed  and  all  privileges  are  conferred  only 
on  the  assumed  ground  that  they  are  to  be  consistently 
held  and  employed.  Everywhere,  under  proper  gov- 
ernment, the  malicious  use  of  these  rights  or  privileges 
to  the  disadvantage  of  others  or  the  damage  of  the 
sovereignty  itself,  is  naturally  held  to  result  in  either 
their  partial  or  complete  forfeiture.  Resting,  as  they 
necessarily  do,  upon  a  specific  merit  or  worthiness,  as 
soon  as  that  gives  place  to  its  opposite  specific  de- 
merit or  unworthiness,  they  must  fall  to  the  ground 


224  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

for  the  mere  want  of  foundation.  Certainly,  the  ex- 
istence of  character  or  conduct  which  would  have 
precluded  their  creation,  must  prohibit  their  continu- 
ance. And  to  this  law  of  resumption  there  can  be 
no  exception,  save  only  in  those  cases  in  which  either 
unavoidably  or  unwisely  they  have  been,  by  the  au- 
thority itself,  made  permanent  or  irrevocable. 

Herein,  then,  will  be  discovered  a  peculiar  evil  of 
bestowing  permanent  gifts  as  rewards  of  merit,  in- 
stead of  resumable  privileges,  marks  of  favor  or  hon- 
orable distinctions,  already  urged  as  of  superior  con- 
sistency and  excellence.  Bestow  upon  the  pupil  such 
an  absolute  gift  or  prize,  and,  inasmuch  as  it  cannot 
be  resumed,  the  authority  cuts  itself  off  from  the 
opportunity  of  indicating  its  displeasure  at  subse- 
quent transgression,  in  one  of  the  most  effective  ways 
possible,  and  also  from  the  power  to  hold  the  subject 
steadily  to  the  principle  of  continued  and  progressive 
worthiness  as  the  true  law  of  excellence,  in  opposition 
to  that  of  mere  temporary  or  desultory  goodness. 
Very  clearly,  any  action  on  the  part  of  the  teacher 
which,  as  a  needless  finality,  limits  his  power  to  re- 
tain a  disciplinary  hold  upon  his  pupils,  so  doubly 
important  as  both  a  stimulus  and  a  restraint,  must 
be,  to  say  the  least,  exceedingly  unwise. 

Hence,  the  teacher  can  not  be  too  careful  in  all 
disciplinary  action  of  this  kind,  not  only  to  give  his 
preference  to  resumable  rewards,  but  also  to  make 
the  school  fully  understand  that  they  are  held  subject 
to  sucn  retraction  in  case  of  just  forfeiture  ;  and  that 
their  sole  object  is  not  the  mere  temporary  approval 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  I   PUNISHMENT.  225 

of  specific  acts,  but  rather  the  public  evincing  of  a 
desire  to  secure  that  permanent  excellence  of  charac- 
ter of  which  these  acts  appear  as  the  natural  and 
steady  outworking.  The  feeling  sought  to  be  aroused 
should  be  distinctly  and  invariably  this ;  these  re- 
wards were  given,  not  because  this  was  done,  but  be- 
cause there  was  evinced  a  constant  disposition  to  do 
it ;  and  so  soon  as  that  disposition  is  wanting,  the 
right  to  hold  them  will  be  just  as  truly  gone  as  would 
be  the  right  to  receive  them.  Wherever,  also,  this 
principle  of  conditionally,  or  this  reserved  right  of 
retraction  is  understood,  so  that  its  exercise  does  not 
take  the  pupil  by  surprise,  the  resuming  of  the  con- 
ferred favor  more  powerfully  sets  forth  the  equity  of 
the  teacher's  administration  than  did  the  original 
bestowment ;  and  for  the  reason  that  the  latter  was  a 
grace  rather  than  a  duty,  and  was  a  natural  occasion 
of  satisfaction  on  both  sides ;  but  the  former  is  an 
act  of  duty  alone,  and,  as  productive  of  mutual  pain, 
would  naturally  be  shunned,  but  for  the  pressing 
claims  of  higher  obligation. 

But  it  will  be  seen  from  the  foregoing,  that  these 
privative  punishments  are  necessarily  limited  in  their 
application  to  the  smaller  number  of  offenses,  and 
those  of  the  more  venial  character.  To  meet  all  its 
wants,  and  to  be  able  to  reach  effectively  the  more 
hardened  offenders,  and  the  more  flagitious  acts  of 
criminality,  the  government  of  the  school  must  be 
empowered  to  go  beyond  mere  negative  punishment ; 
it  must  have  access  to  those  which  are  positive,  and 
which  produce,  not  merely  deprivation  and  discom- 


22G  SCHOOL   GOVERNMENT. 

fort,  but  which  occasion  actual  suffering,  either  bodily 
or  mental. 

By  positive  punishments,  or  punishments  proper, 
are  to  be  understood  all  those  actual  inflictions  by 
the  constituted  authority,  which  subject  the  pupil  to 
pain  either  bodily  or  mental,  and  which  are  needful 
for  the  correction  of  wrong,  and  for  the  maintaining 
of  the  teacher's  sovereignty  as  the  conservator  of  the 
school. 

The  transition  from  privative  to  positive  punish- 
ments is  not  abrupt.  The  one  rather  passes  into  the 
other  by  gradation.  Hence,  privative  punishments 
may  assume  much  the  character  of  positive  inflictions. 
For  example,  let  the  act  of  deprivation  be  a  simple 
act,  and  let  it  occasion  no  other  feeling  than  a  clear 
consciousness  of  the  loss  incurred,  and  the  punish- 
ment is  purely  privative.  But  couple  the  act  of  de- 
privation with  circumstances  which  give  it  the  force 
of  a  public  censure,  or  a  distinct  degradation,  and 
cause  the  feelings  occasioned  by  it  to  be  those  of 
mortification  or  remorse,  and  the  punishment  becomes 
properly  positive.  Beyond  its  bearing  upon  the  fol- 
lowing classification,  this  fact  possesses  a  practical 
importance,  as  indicating  to  the  teacher  a  means  of 
giving  effective  force  to  punishments  otherwise  purely 
privative,  and,  as  such  not  unfrequently  found  to  be 
powerless. 

Positive  punishments  may  be  classified  as  of  three 
kinds ;  Privative,  Coercive  and  Compulsive.  The  first 
of  these  has  been  indicated  with  sufficient  clearness 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :   PUNISHMENT.  227 

under  the  preceding  head.     Its  further  consideration 
will  consequently  be  waived  altogether. 

Coercive  punishments  may  be  concisely  described, 
as  such  inflictions  of  pain,  either  bodily  or  mental,  as 
acting  upon  the  will  through  the  sense,  the  intellect 
and  the  feelings,  induce  a  voluntary  abandonment 
of  the  wrong-doing  for  which  discipline  is  instituted, 
and,  as  far  as  is  practicable,  a  proper  correction  of  the 
evils  it  has  occasioned,  whether  they  be  individual  or 
general. 

Upon  four  points  herein  mentioned,  particular 
stress  must  be  laid.  First.  There  must  be  the  ac- 
tual abandonment  of  the  wrong-doing.  This  is  op- 
posed to  any  merely  partial  correction  of  the  evil 
course  in  question.  There  may  be  cases  in  which 
this  partial  correction  is  better  than  nothing ;  in  which 
that  may  even  have  to  be  accepted  as  practically  all 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  can  be  attained.  But 
the  government  of  the  school  is  false  to  the  claims 
of  its  own  dignity,  and  of  the  general  welfare,  as  well 
as  to  the  true  interest  of  the  offender,  if  it  rests  satis- 
fied with  the  attainment  of  any  such  end.  To  be 
content  with  this,  except  upon  practical  compulsion, 
is  to  make  itself,  in  one  sense,  a  "particeps  criminis" 
in  whatever  of  the  wrong-doing  lies  beyond  that  cor- 
rected. This  is  clearly  illustrated  in  civil  affairs,  in 
the  neglect  of  the  state  to  restrain  altogether  the 
public  sale  of  noxious  drinks,  instead  of  contenting 
itself  with  a  system  of  restrictive  licenses. 

Secondly.  There  must  be  the  proper  correction  of 
the  evils  occasioned  by  the  wrong-doing.     Abandon- 


228  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

ment  without  reparation,  is  mere  external  amend- 
ment. It  contains  no  evidence  that  the  real  root  of 
the  transgression  has  been  reached.  It  is  perfectly 
consistent  with  pure  hypocrisy.  For  the  government 
of  the  school  to  countenance  this  last,  even  indirectly, 
is  a  vice.  In  the  disciplining  of  offenders  by  punish- 
ment, then,  no  pains  must  be  spared  to  point  out  the 
possible  modes  of  making  proper  reparation,  and  to 
bring  the  offender  to  the  full  and  resolute  under- 
taking of  that,  perhaps,  self-sacrificing,  but  yet  neces- 
sary work.  We  greatly  fear,  however,  that  teachers 
generally,  either  from  a  failure  to  apprehend  its  pri- 
mary importance,  or  from  indisposition  to  undertake 
the  necessary  moral  effort,  fail  to  do  anything  of  the 
kind.  Such  a  failure  is,  so  far  as  it  goes,  a  positive 
pronunciation  against  their  fitness  to  govern.    . 

Thirdly.  The  reparation  must  just  as  distinctly 
embrace  the  wrong  done  to  the  government  of  the 
school,  as  that  inflicted  upon  any  of  its  individual 
members.  Too  commonly  the  offending  member  of 
the  school  attains  no  other  idea  of  his  act  than  that 
embraced  in  its  relation  to  an  individual,  either  some 
fellow-pupil,  if  it  is  a  personal  offense,  or  if  not,  then 
the  teacher  alone.  He  reaches  no  conception  of  its 
character  beyond  and  above  everything  individual,  as 
an  offense  against  the  whole  school  either  as  such,  or 
as  represented  in  its  government.  And  yet  this  last 
is  the  vital  point.  In  no  organized  community,  can 
crime  be  crime,  only  or  chiefly  against  the  individual. 
Like  a  blow  struck  against  any  part  of  a  compact 
body,  it  vibrates  through  the  whole ;  and  by  just  so 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  I   PUNISHMENT.  229 

much  as  that  body  stretches  out  on  every  side,  by 
just  so  much  do  its  vibrations  tremble  along  succes- 
sive waves  of  concentric  relation,  more  or  less  sensi- 
bly affecting  the  whole.  It  is  the  ignorant  or  the 
studious  oversight  of  this  principle,  which  inspires  the 
pseudo-humanity  of  that  dangerous  class  whose  sym- 
pathy for  public  criminals  is,  at  the  present  day,  in- 
fecting and  debasing  the  popular  notions  of  justice. 
Let  the  teacher,  then,  bear  this  in  mind,  and  see  to  it, 
that  in  the  school,  this  higher  idea  of  the  relation  of 
offenses  is  understood  and  felt,  and  the  consequent 
reparation  demanded  and  made. 

Lastly.  Let  not  the  voluntary  element  be  over- 
looked or  dispensed  with.  Amendment  which  is 
strictly  forced,  is  sometimes  all  that  can  be  reached. 
Even,  as  such,  it  is  better. than  none.  It  externally 
sustains  the  majesty  of  law,  and  shuts  off  the  evil 
example.  Sophistry  sometimes  pleads  against  this 
principle,  the  analogies  of  nature,  as  in  the  case  of 
disease  or  danger,  where  mere  external  improvement 
may  be  itself  injurious.  But  it  is  a  lying  philosophy 
which  reasons  thus  from  the  physical  to  the  moral. 
Better  is  that  reasoning  which,  appealing  to  the  case 
of  evils  like  those  of  licentiousness  or  drunkenness, 
profanity  or  sabbath-breaking,  finds  that  though, 
in  their  secret  hiding-places,  they  are  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  law,  yet,  in  their  very  seclusion,  they 
attest  the  virtue  and  the  power  of  the  law,  and  are 
forced  to  forego  the  baleful  exercise  of  a  wide-spread 
influence  and  an  unblushing  example. 

Nevertheless,  generally,  and  especially  in  those  sa- 


230  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

cred  precincts, — the  family,  the  school,  and  the  church, 
that  correction  which  lays  the  ax  "  at  the  root  of  the 
tree,"  is  better,  and  is  to  be  studiously  sought,  Here, 
higher  and  holier  aims  than  those  of  mere  legality, 
must  predominate.  In  these,  then,  authority  must 
not  rest  content  until,  with  its  appliances  and  influ- 
ences, it  has  reached  the  heart  and  secured  that  that, 
in  its  voluntary  obedience  to  the  claims  of  pure  rec- 
titude, shall  "  magnify  the  law  and  make  it  honor- 
able." And  the  lesson  herein  taught  the  teacher  is 
this  ;  that  while,  in  the  use  of  legitimate  punishments 
he  more  immediately  coerces  the  offending  will,  he 
is  not  to  rest  satisfied,  until  coercion  has  become 
transfigured  in  true  and  permanent  submission. 
Great  concern,  painful  severity,  and  much  benevolent 
and  pains-taking  afterwork  may  this  entail  upon  him. 
But  it  is  the  law  of  his  office,  and  let  him  cheerfully 
accept  its  issues. 

Passing  from  these  considerations  bearing  on  our 
definition  of  coercive  punishment,  we  observe  that 
in  its  several  species,  it  may  consist  of  these  general 
forms  of  infliction,  namely :  public  reprimands  either 
with  or  without  temporary  exclusion  from  rights  and 
privileges ;  subjection  to  personal  restraint  or  incon- 
venience ;  bodily  chastisement,  or  corporal  punish- 
ment proper ;  and  final  exclusion  from  the  privileges 
and  precincts  of  the  school.  The  specific  nature, 
restriction  and  application  of  the  several  kinds  of 
punishment  will,  for  the  sake  of  convenience  be  con- 
sidered together,  under  their  respective  heads. 

It  will,  however,  bo  first  incumbent  on  us  to  attend 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:   PUNISHMENT.  231 

carefully  to  those  general  principles  which  must  gov- 
ern the  teacher,  in  the  use  of  all  the  several  species 
of  coercive  punishments.  These  principles  are,  to  a 
qualified  extent,  applicable  to  all  the  foregoing  kinds 
of  punishment ;  but  they  are  more  especially  consid- 
ered here  with  reference  to  those  which,  as  positively 
coercive,  are  more  important  in  their  nature,  and 
more  serious  in  their  contingencies. 

First.  "Whatever  punishment  it  is  proposed  to  in- 
flict, it  must  be  preceded  by  positive  detection  or 
proper  investigation.  Without  this,  there  can,  of 
course,  be  no  certainty  that  the  teacher's  decision  is 
righteous,  and  the  punishment  just.  Of  the  necessity 
of  these,  little  need  be  said.  They  are  vital  to  the 
interests  of  all  concerned,  from  the  government,  down. 
Neither  must  unjust  punishment  be  inflicted,  nor 
must  punishment  be  unjustly  inflicted.  To  this  there 
is  no  alternative. 

And  yet,  it  is  not  unfrequently  the  case  that  the 
latter  wrong  is  perpetrated  by  the  teacher.  How 
often, — shame,  that  it  must  be  said ! — does  the  blow 
fall  upon  the  mere  victim  of  mischief,  rather  than 
upon  the  real,  though  concealed  offender !  For  ex- 
ample, how  often  does  a  day  pass  in  our  schools,  with- 
out witnessing  such  justice  as  this  ?  A  pupil  natu- 
rally impulsive  and  brimful  of  giggle,  is  purposely 
set  a-laughing  by  some  cool-headed,  long-faced  rogue 
in  his  neighborhood,  who  carefully  screens  himself 
from  the  teacher's  observation.  Sequel,  under  these 
'second  Daniels  come  to  judgment', — the  helpless 
laugher  is  punished,   sometimes   regardless   of   his 


232  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

defense,  and  the  mischief  maker  goes  scot-free.  It 
is  simply  a  falsifying  of  terms,  to  call  this  govern- 
ment. 

Secondly.  All  such  punishments  must  be  well  con- 
sidered, and  with  sharp  reference,  not  only  to  their 
nature  and  application,  but  also  to  their  possible  re- 
sults. This  involves  the  exercise  of  special  care  that 
no  material  injury,  either  bodily  or  mental,  shall  re- 
sult to  the  pupil.  It  also  demands  that  the  teacher 
shall  have  taken  a  just  measure,  not  only  of  the  true 
merits  of  the  case,  but  also  of  the  possible  demands 
of  the  infliction  upon  his  own  strength  or  firmness. 
Nothing  can  be  more  unfortunate,  than  for  the  teacher 
to  attempt  the  infliction  of  punishment,  and  to  dis- 
cover at  length,  that  he  has  not  rightly  estimated  the 
refractoriness  to  be  subdued.  He  will  either  come 
out  himself  half-conquered,  or  if  ultimately  the  victor, 
only  such,  at  the  expense  of  a  painfully  unexpected 
conflict.  Of  the  two  evils  of  inconsiderateness,  it  is 
doubtful  which  is  the  worst,  the  infliction  of  punish- 
ment unduly  severe,  or  that  pitiably  insufficient  or 
half-successfully  resisted. 

Thirdly.  Punishment  must  be  thorough  and  effect- 
ive. It  must  be  no  paltering  sham.  Once  well-con- 
sidered and  rightly  began,  it  must  go  through  to  the 
bitter  end.  For  example,  if  the  pupil  is  to  be  sub- 
jected to  detention  after  school,  for  the  performance 
of  some  neglected  duty,  let  that  detention  go  on  in- 
exorably till  the  work  is  done,  even  if  it  runs  out  of 
the  daylight  into  the  evening  shadows.  This  par- 
ticular point  is  pressed  with  great  earnestness,  be- 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :   PUNISHMENT.  233 

cause  it  is  believed  that  no  species  of  punishment  is 
more  common  in  our  schools  than  this  of  detention, 
and  that  none  can  be  found  more  commonly  a  prac- 
tical failure.  And  it  is  little  to  its  credit,  that  it  is 
unconsciously  chosen  because  it  favors  an  escape 
from  the  use  of  severer  but  more  effective  punish- 
ments, and  because  it  admits  of  some  ultimate  eva- 
sion of  its  own  real  demands  and  just  extension.  It 
is  no  more  to  its  credit,  that  its  failure  is  due  either 
to  the  teacher's  want  of  firmness  in  carrying  it  out, 
or  to  his  weak  willingness  to  escape  the  pressure  of 
its  own  inconvenience  upon  himself. 

If  corporal  punishment  is  to  be  applied,  the  same 
general  principle  holds  good.  All  the  proper  pre- 
liminary steps  having  been  taken,  the  wise  and  just 
penalty  must  be  inflicted,  and  until  the  desired  sub- 
mission is  secured.  Half-way  punishment  is  a  fatal 
blunder.  It,  not  only  fails  of  the  true  end,  but  ag- 
gravates the  assailed  evil.  Two  blows  may  only 
toughen  the  refractoriness,  when  ten  would  reduce  it 
to  tenderness  and  submission.  Half-complete  pun- 
ishment is,  furthermore,  false  mercy.  Ten  blows 
may  secure  a  finality,  when  two  would  only  prepare 
the  way  for  twenty  in  the  future.  A  most  pitiable 
conclusion  of  administered  discipline  is  that  which 
compels  the  teacher  to  exclaim  within  his  heart : 

"  We  have  scotched  the  snake  ;  not  killed  it." 

Fourthly.  The  punishment  must  be  administered 
with  due  deliberateness  and  resolution.  This  involves 
three  points ;   proper  preparation,  deliberateness  in 


234  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

application,  and  resolution  in  the  manner  of  carrying 
it  out.  It  is  equally  unfortunate  for  the  teacher  to 
undertake  to  inflict  punishment  without  full  prepara- 
tion for  possible  contingencies ;  to  proceed  to  the 
work  in  haste  or  passionate  heat ;  or  to  evince  in  its 
prosecution,  anything  like  hesitation  or  half-regret. 

Hence,  if  a  lengthy  and  persistent  detention  of  the 
offender  is  to  be  instituted,  let  the  parent  be,  if  pos- 
sible, duly  notified  so  that  no  undue  anxiety  will  be 
occasioned  at  home  ;  let  everything  necessary  to 
the  cool  carrying  out  of  the  teacher's  purpose  be 
provided  at  the  school,  and  then  let  him  proceed  with 
calm  and  imperturbable  patience  and  firmness  to  the 
end.  Or  if  corporal  punishment  is  to  be  inflicted,  and 
the  case  bids  fair  to  be  a  severe  one,  let  the  parent 
be  notified  or  even  consulted  and  made  to  feel  the 
just  demands  of  the  case ;  let  the  proper  appliances 
be  provided  beforehand,  and  then  let  the  whole, 
however  painful,  be  carried  through  with  immovable 
coolness  and  steadiness,  to  the  very  end.  With  re- 
ference to  the  second  point  especially,  let  no  teacher 
resort  to  such  pitiful  devices  (sometimes  even  osten- 
tatiously practiced,)  as  that  of  punishing  impromptu, 
and  sending  pupils,  on  the  instant,  to  cut  the  necessary 
rod  for  the  occasion.  It  is  the  next  vice  to  that  of 
displaying  a  whip  always,  to  use  a  heraldic  phrase, 
"  rampant  gardant." 

Fifthly.  With  regard  to  publicity,  the  general  law 
can  only  be  :  as  is  the  offense,  so  must  be  the  correc- 
tion. Given  a  purely  private  offense,  if  such  can  be, 
one  exerting  no  public  influence  and  susceptible  of 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  I   PUNISHMENT.  235 

private  correction,  and  the  institution  of  open  in- 
vestigation or  the  public  infliction  of  punishment, 
must  carry  on  its  face  the  appearance  of  either  an 
indiscretion  or  an  abuse.  But  on  the  same  principle, 
an  open  offense,  affecting  the  general  welfare,  and 
exerting  a  public  influence,  must,  with  few  exceptions, 
be  as  publicly  investigated  and  corrected.  Hence, 
generally,  there  must  be  no  discipline  in  secret,  for 
offenses  committed  upon  the  house-top.  And  the 
law  applies  equally  to  the  various  species  of  punish- 
ment, reprimands,  restraint,  chastisement  and  ex- 
pulsion. 

We  are  aware  that  strong  ground  is  sometimes 
taken  against  this  publicity.  That  ground,  however, 
is  not  tenable.  The  secret  occasion  for  taking  it  is 
itself  significant.  Sometimes  it  is  little  less  than  a 
false  sympathy  for  the  personal  pride  of  the  offender. 
But  if  he  had  not  self-respect  enough  to  forbear  the 
commission  of  the  evil  act,  what  claim  has  he  to  so 
sensitive  a  regard  for  his  reputation  under  the  inflic- 
tion of  the  just  penalty  ?  Is  not  his  truest,  and,  un- 
der the  circumstances,  only  possible  honor,  that  of 
manfully  acknowledging  the  wrong  and  submitting  to 
the  full  demands  of  justice  ?  Sometimes,  again,  the 
objection  to  the  public  infliction  of  punishment,  is 
either  a  similar  regard  for  parental  pride,  or  a  con- 
cern with  reference  to  parental  vindictiveness.  If  it 
be  the  former,  the  answer  is  as  before  ;  the  true  con- 
servation of  family  honor  is  to  be  found  only  in  the 
thorough  and  manly  endorsement  of  the  full  claims  of 
justice,  and  the  unflinching  acceptance  of  whatever 


236  SCHOOL   GOVERNMENT. 

is  necessary  to  a  complete  and  final  correction  of  the 
evil.  So  far  as  the  second  motive  is  concerned,  it  is 
unworthy  in  the  teacher  to  regard  it.  Let  him  do 
justice  though  the  heavens  fall. 

Still  further,  the  objections  too  often  rest,  really, 
though  unconsciously,  upon  the  mere  reformatory 
notion  of  discipline,  which  has  already  been  seen  to 
be  erroneous.  If  the  administration  of  discipline  is 
for  the  preservation  of  the  innocent,  no  less  than  for 
the  correction  of  the  guily,  manifestly,  the  pains  and 
penalties  incurred  as  the  result  of  wrong-doing,  must 
be  as  public  as  the  offense.  Shut  them  up  from  the 
observing  eye  of  the  commonwealth,  and  how  are  its 
members  to  learn  that  "  the  way  of  transgressors  is 
hard  ?"  The  very  "  intimations  of  nature,"  more  often 
than  otherwise,  sustain  the  general  principle  that,  to 
secure  the  widest  and  best  influence,  the  evil  con- 
sequences of  wrong-doing  must,  sooner  or  later,  be- 
come public.  Indeed,  nature  sometimes  visits  even 
secret  transgression,  with  open  punishment. 

With  regard  to  the  public  infliction  of  corporal 
punishment,  the  cry  is  sometimes  raised,  that  it  is  re- 
prehensible, because  brutalizing.  To  this  we  reply, 
that  the  conclusion  is  based  upon  a  mere  assumption. 
It  is  not  the  proper  infliction  of  this  species  of  punish- 
ment, that  is  brutalizing ;  it  is  only  its  abuse.  Let 
the  infliction  of  such  punishment  be  characterized  by 
undue  frequency,  by  needless  roughness  or  excess,  or 
by  fierce  passion,  and  doubtless  it  will,  in  some  part, 
go  to  harden  and  brutalize  the  nature.  But  so  does 
tho  sight  of  human  suffering  and  sorrow,  when  they 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  I   PUNISHMENT.  237 

come  to  be  pressed  too  frequently  upon  our  sensibili- 
ties or  are  inseparably  bound  up  with  groveling  and 
depraved  associations.  Even  the  death  of  the  human 
being,  when  crowded  upon  the  soul  under  the  sweep 
of  the  pestilence  or  the  clash  of  the  battle  field,  or 
when  it  glares  out  from  the  drunken  carousal  or  the 
bed  of  vice  and  rottenness, — even  that  otherwise, 
tender  and  soul-subduing  spectacle  may,  under  such 
circumstances,  exert  only  a  benumbing  and  debasing 
influence.  But  who  cries  out  and  demands  that  na- 
ture and  society  should,  therefore,  fling  the  pall  of 
isolation  and  secrecy  over  its  legitimate  occurrence  ? 
There  is,  however,  another  grave  oversight  com- 
mitted by  those  who  pronounce  thus  summarily 
against  public  punishment  in  the  school.  In  their 
anxiety  about  the  immediate,  they  ignore  the  ultimate. 
They  fail  to  inquire  whether  in  this  proposed  sub- 
traction from  punishment,  of  one  of  its  most  effective 
elements  of  power  as  a  means  of  general  prevention, 
the  way  is  not  opened  for  a  practical  demoralization 
of  the  school,  as  it  regards  its  notions  of  crime  and 
its  retributions,  that  is  itself  brutalization  in  fact,  if 
not  in  the  accepted  form.  Is  he  who,  through  a  false 
pity,  pride  or  fear,  withdraws  from  active  influence 
upon  the  school,  the  highest  possible  warning  and 
safeguard  against  transgression,  doing  any  less  to 
brutalize  its  moral  sensibility,  than  is  done  by  him 
who,  perhaps  too  rudely,  shocks  that  sensibility  to 
allow  of  its  most  wholesome  reaction?  We  urge, 
then,  that  the  objection  has  no  valid  force  whatever 
against  public  punishment  as  properly  administered ; 


* 

238  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

that  is,  justly,  deliberately,  thoroughly,  and  with  due 
pains  to  secure  the  subsequent  moral  results. 

Lastly.  Whatever  punishment  is  inflicted,  the  in- 
fliction must  by  no  means  be  accepted  as  the  end  of 
the  teacher's  opportunity  and  responsibility.  Hardly 
could  a  graver  mistake  be  committed.  As  well  might 
the  physician  who  has  by  powerful  remedies  broken 
the  fever,  suspend  all  further  treatment  of  the  case. 
Mere  coercion  is  not  the  highest  end.  That  is  rather 
persuasion.  But  coercion  is  often  the  necessary  pre- 
parative for  persuasion.  Negotiations  and  amicable 
arrangements  are  often  impracticable  until  after  a 
satisfactory  trial  of  arms.  Punishments,  then,  are 
sometimes  chiefly  effective  as  opening  the  way  for  the 
unimpeded  application  of  moral  influences.  Hence, 
they  should  be  regarded  by  the  teacher,  rather  as 
the  rough  ladder  leading  to  the  only  hopeful  landing 
place  of  moral  suasion.  Let  him,  then,  see  to  it  that 
he  does  not  rest  content  with  merely  having  reached 
that  landing  place,  instead  of  zealously  pressing  up 
the  new  and  nobler  ascent  which  the  former  has  just 
rendered  practicable.  Every  infliction  of  coercive 
discipline  must,  then,  be  carefully  followed  up  and 
supplemented  by  sound  suggestions  and  friendly  in- 
fluences, until,  if  possible,  to  the  subjugation  of  the 
will,  there  has  been  added  the  winning  of  the  heart. 

And  this  subsequent  use  of  moral  means  rises  in 
its  imperative  claims,  just  in  proportion  to  the  im- 
mediate severity  or  aggravating  circumstances  of  the 
punishment  inflicted.  Certainly,  the  more  critical  the 
case,  and  the  more  violent  the  treatment,  the  more 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  PUNISHMENT.       239 

pressing  the  need  for  the  watchful  and  unwearied  ap- 
plication of  the  subsequent  restoratives.  He,  then, 
who  fails  to  perceive  this  last  responsibility,  or  who 
lacks  either  the  patience  or  the  firmness  to  press  for- 
ward in  its  discharge  to  the  complete  result,  practi- 
cally sounds  a  retreat  in  the  midst  of  a  half-won  bat- 
tle, and  accepts  the  issue  of  a  substantial  defeat. 
And  this  is  the  fatal  error  of  most  of  the  discipline 
administered  in  our  schools.  To  this  alone,  is  charge- 
able much  of  the  need  of  frequent  punishment,  much 
of  its  failure  to  prove  effective,  and  much  of  its  al- 
leged brutalizing  tendency.  Let  teachers  ponder 
this  well. 

It  may  perhaps  be  objected  by  some,  that  all  this 
is  calculated  to  render  the  administration  of  disci- 
pline in  the  school,  too  complicated  and  laborious. 
We  answer,  not  at  all,  if  all  this  is  necessary  to  its 
consistency,  efficiency,  and  most  benign  success. 
Furthermore,  the  more  of  a  real,  pains-taking  labor 
it  is,  the  less  likely  will  the  teacher  be  to  enter  upon 
the  work  of  disciplining  offenses  hastily  or  for  trivial 
causes.  The  grand  law  of  the  whole  argument  is 
summed  up  in  this  indisputably  just  maxim ;  less 
frequency  but  greater  thoroughness. 

Beyond  these  general  rules,  there  are  certain  spe- 
cific points  bearing  on  these  various  kinds  of  punish- 
ment that  claim  attention. 

First.  Correlative  rewards  and  punishment  a  should 
rest  upon  similar  bases.  If  you  bestow  a  reward  for 
a  specific  excellence,  you  may  punish  by  retracting 
the  reward,  but  only  for  delinquency  in  the  same  direc- 


240  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

tion.  Thus,  you  may  punish  for  bad  scholarship  by 
resuming  a  reward  bestowed  for  good  scholarship, 
but  not  at  all  by  retracting  one  conferred  for  good 
behavior.     The  last  would  be  a  practical  injustice. 

Secondly.  Public  reprimands  should  set  forth 
clearly  the  personal  unworthiness  and  the  public  in- 
juriousness  of  the  act  censured,  and  should,  as  the 
case  may  be,  be  more  or  less  pointed  and  severe. 
But  they  should  never  be  sarcastic  or  vituperative. 
No  true  force  is  gained  by  such  means,  and  they 
seriously  impair  the  teacher's  dignity  and  dispas- 
sionateness of  manner  in  the  administration  of  dis- 
cipline. Care  should  be  taken  to  guard  the  school 
against  the  error  of  summing  up  the  censure  in  the 
act  of  its  pronunciation.  It  must  be  understood  to 
hold  good  until,  upon  amendment,  the  offender  is 
formally  released  therefrom.  In  the  meantime,  while 
he  is  not  to  be  treated  unkindly,  he  is  to  be  held  as 
standing  in  disfavor.  In  this  direction,  some  accom- 
panying restriction  of  privilege  will  be  seen  to  be  of 
service,  inasmuch  as  it  affords  a  sensible  and  abiding 
symbol  of  the  existing  censure. 

Thirdly.  Bodily  restraint  or  confinement  as  to 
either  position  or  place  must  be  simply  such ;  it  must 
not  be  conjoined  with  contemptible,  alarming,  or  mis- 
chievous adjuncts.  Stand  the  offender  upon  the  floor 
in  noticeable  isolation  from  his  fellows,  if  need  be ; 
but  do  not  stoop  to  those  abominations  practiced  of 
old  time,  such  as  adorning  him  with  leather  spec- 
tacles, split  sticks,  or  a  fool's  cap,  or  loading  him 
with  billets  of  wood,  or  forcing  him  to  stand  with  his 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:   PUNISHMENT.  241 

finger  upon  some  crack  in  the  floor, — to  him,  in  a 
very  literal  sense,  the  "crack  of  doom."  These  are 
not  only  needless,  but  also  base  and  even  cowardly 
devices.  We  say  cowardly,  for  more  often  than 
otherwise,  they  are  chosen  because  they  are  a  means 
of  dodging  the  infliction  of  corporal  punishment,  or 
because  those  upon  whom  they  are  imposed  are  either 
unable  to  resist,  or  dare  not  in  any  way  protest  against 
the  indignity.  So  too,  with  regard  to  separate  con- 
finement, avoid  immuring  the  offender  in  some  filthy 
or  dark  closet  or  apartment.  It  is  not  well,  for  any 
purpose  of  correction,  to  attack  a  pupil's  constitu- 
tional courage,  or  his  acquired  habits  of  neatness. 
The  reasons  are  obvious. 

We  have  already  noticed  somewhat  particularly, 
the  use  of  detention  after  school  as  a  punishment. 
That  the  current  method  pursued  with  regard  to  it, 
is  radically  defective  and  needs  to  be  reformed  al- 
together, must  be  apparent  to  the  thoughtful  teacher. 
Instead  of  resorting  to  it  with  foolish  frequency,  con- 
ducting it  so  that  it  is  sure  to  be  as  great  an  annoy- 
ance to  the  teacher  as  it  is  to  the  pupil,  and  cutting 
it  summarily  short  at  the  occurrence  of  the  first  pos- 
sible excuse  for  so  doing,  how  much  better  for  a 
course  to  be  pursued,  somewhat  as  follows.  Having 
a  just  occasion  for  a  thorough  detention  of  a  delin- 
quent pupil,  let  the  teacher  close  his  school,  send 
notice  of  the  detention  to  the  parents,  if  he  has  not 
apprized  them  of  it  beforehand,  and  then  calmly 
stating  to  the  offender  precisely  what  he  intends  and 
expects,  let  him  set  himself  quietly  about  some  ap- 


242  SCHOOL   GOVERNMENT. 

parently  consistent  and  earnest  employment,  and 
without  concern  or  uneasiness,  await  the  end.  Sooner 
than  stop  short  of  its  full  attainment,  let  him,  if  need 
be,  bring  forward  both  lunch  and  lights,  share  them 
pleasantly  with  his  prisoner,  and  go  on  as  before.  A 
cool  preparation  and  persistence  like  this,  will  almost 
invariably  bring  the  culprit  to  terms.  When  this 
point  has  been  properly  attained,  let  the  teacher  lay 
aside  the  stern  character  of  the  ruler,  and  as  a  friend 
calmly  and  kindly  confer  with  the  offender  upon  the 
evil  nature  of  the  course  he  has  pursued,  and  exhort 
him  to  new  and  better  things.  Then  let  him  put  up 
his  work,  close  the  school-house,  and,  if  practicable, 
accompany  the  pupil  home,  by  the  way  appearing 
only  as  the  friend,  and  seeming  to  be  utterly  oblivious 
of  what  has  just  passed.  His  presence  will  keep  the 
pupil  thoughtful  and  under  restraint  until  the  period 
for  any  passionate  outbreak  has  passed,  and  his  for- 
bearing silence  as  to  the  discipline  will  tend  to  awaken 
grateful  regard.  And,  subsequently,  let  nothing  be 
said  about  the  affair,  to  the  school.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary. The  details  of  the  struggle  and  the  result  will 
find  their  own  utterance,  and  with  comments  quite 
calculated  to  impress  upon  its  members,  the  wisdom 
of  prompt  obedience.  To  some  teachers,  we  doubt 
not,  all  this  will  seem  like  pure  extravagance.  But 
what  a  pity  it  is,  that  in  the  use  of  punishment,  in 
both  the  family  and  the  school,  there  is  not  more  of 
the  extravagance  of  thoroughness,  and  less  of  the 
extravagance  of  idle  frequency  and  stupid  failure. 
Fourthly.  With  regard  to  chastisement  or  corporal 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  PUNISHMENT.       243 

punishment  proper,  it  is  premised  that  we  here  con- 
template only  the  legitimate  and  divinely  established 
use  of  the  rod.  There  have  been  found  not  a  few 
who,  without  any  warrant  either  rational  or  revealed, 
have  gone  beyond  this  and  hit  upon  implements  and 
appliances  that  might  have  made  the  users  thereof 
exclaim : 

"  Come  seeling  night, 
Scarf  up  the  tender  eye  of  pitiful  day." 

These  were  they  who,  finding  a  hard,  rough-hand 
in  readiness,  brandished  it  like  Talus'  iron  flail  about 
the  ears  and  head  of  the  pitiful  culprit  to  the  endan- 
gering of  his  very  brains ;  who,  possessing  a  sinewy 
arm,  grasped  the  helpless  victim  and,  wrenching  him 
from  his  seat,  spun  him  around  like  a  demon-driven 
top,  in  indescribable  gyrations  upon  the  mid-floor, 
and  perhaps  ended  with  dashing  him  down  more  like 
a  billet  than  a  human  being ;  or  who,  clutching  the 
massive  ferrule,  either  hurled  it  like  Jove's  thunder- 
bolt, at  doomed  heads  in  the  distance,  or,  seizing  the 
tender  and  half-knit  hand,  beat  out  with  quick  re- 
morseless blows  the  fiery  grain  of  pain,  if  not  of  peni- 
tence, upon  the  sad  threshing-floor  of  the  quivering 
palm. 

For  such  punishments  there  is  no  stint  of  condem- 
nation. Irrational  and  base,  they  might  produce  fear, 
but  could  create  no  reverence  or  regard  for  govern- 
ment. .  Indiscriminate  and  unsparing,  they  alike 
crushed  the  innocent  and  weak,  and  exasperated  the 
robust  and  daring.  Blind  and  dead  to  the  presence 
and  oflice-work  of  the  understanding  and  the  con- 


244:  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

science,  they  brutalized  the  feelings,  and  often  beat 
down  all  that  was  sweetest  and  noblest  in  the  child's 
nature.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  these  are  already 
numbered  with  the  things  that  were. 

With  regard  to  corporal  punishment  in  its  proper 
form  as  already  indicated,  much  the  same  course  is 
to  be  pursued  as  in  the  case  of  restraint  or  confine- 
ment. Whatever  of  antecedent  preparation,  of  care- 
ful explanation,  of  calm  deliberateness,  of  cool  and 
thorough  persistence,  and  of  subsequent  moral  effort, 
was  needed  there,  is  still  more  necessary  here.  But  it 
must  all  be  natural  and  real,  not  pretentious  or  with  a 
studied  attempt  at  effect.  Any  display  of  preparations, 
or  tantalizing  delay  of  proceedings,  or  pompous 
solemnity  of  manner,  intended  to  alarm  the  offender 
or  overawe  the  school,  is  worse  than  weak  and  ridi- 
culous ;  it's  "  villainous,  and  shows  a  pitiful  ambition 
in  the  fool  that  uses  it." 

From  this,  it  will  be  seen  that,  for  obvious  reasons, 
no  hasty  infliction  of  punishment  is  here  contemplated. 
Still  it  is  not  denied  that  cases  may  arise  in  which 
summary  punishment  must  be  inflicted ;  as,  for  ex- 
ample, when  the  offender  is  of  a  character  likely  to  be 
strengthened  in  resistance  by  delay ;  when  there  is  a 
prevailing  impression  that  the  teacher's  deliberateness 
is  caused  by  a  temporizing  fear  to  punish  ;  or  when, 
from  lack  of  physical  power,  he  must  take  his  anta- 
gonist at  an  advantage.  Here,  it  may  be  necessary 
for  the  stream  to  "  be  quick  and  violent."  But  these 
are  the  exceptional  cases,  and  are  to  be  avoided  if 
possible.     The  teacher  must  be  his  own  judge  as  to 


GEKE11AL  ELEMENTS:   FUKI8HMEKT.  245 

the  real  occurrence  of  any  of  these  contingencies.  In 
case  he  accepts  one  of  them  as  instant,  let  the  blow 
be  sudden  and  decisive,  and  only  sudden  that  it  may 
be  decisive. 

It  is  sometimes  both  proper  and  necessary  in  the 
administration  of  discipline,  in  the  school,  to  go 
beyond  proper  coercion,  and  make  use  of  sheer  com- 
pulsion. That  is,  the  teacher,  instead  of  bringing 
the  pupil  by  coercive  measures  to  the  voluntary  per- 
formance of  the  required  act,  may  apply  sheer  force 
and,  whether  he  wills  or  not  wills,  may  compel  him 
to  do  it.  This  species  of  discipline  is  quite  restricted 
in  its  application,  and  is,  only  under  certain  contin- 
gencies, and  in  a  modified  sense,  punishment.  But 
being  a  disciplinary  corrective  so  far  as  it  goes ; 
tending  to  inculcate  the  necessity  of  submission  to 
the  higher  power ;  and  not  unfrequently  causing  the 
pain  of  feeling  ignominiously  overcome  and  justly 
compelled  to  submit,  it  is  not  improper  to  consider  it 
under  the  head  of  punishments. 

The  nature  and  occasion  for  such  a  species  of  in- 
fliction maybe  made  clearer  by  illustration.  Take, 
in  the  first  instance,  a  very  young  pupil,  who  has  yet 
no  adequate  idea  of  superior  power  as  in  authority 
over  him,  and  who  may  be  hardly  mature  enough  to 
comprehend  the  just  claims  of  authority  as  rightly 
constituted.  Suppose  such  an  incipient  representative 
of  our  ungovernable  democracy  to  set  himself  up  pre- 
cociously as  one  of  the  sovereigns, — a  by  no  means 
rare  occurrence  in  either  the  family  or  the  school. 
He  is,  for  example,  directed  to  take  a  certain  seat, 


246  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

or,  perhaps,  to  sit  down  somewhere,  and  refuses  to 
obey.  Here  it  may  be  both  proper  and  sufficient  for 
the  teacher  to  take  him  and,  by  the  simple  exercise 
of  force,  compel  him  to  take  the  prescribed  place.  A 
similar  emergency  may  arise  in  the  case  of  an  older 
pupil  who  has  been  too  exclusively  controlled  by 
force  at  home,  or  who,  in  the  overweening  sense  of 
his  own  strength,  doubts  the  teacher's  possession  of 
the  power  to  master  him,  and  to  compel  him  to  sub- 
mit. Here,  as  before,  the  teacher  may  with  perfect 
consistency  resort  to  simple  compulsion  ;  he  may,  by 
the  mere  exercise  of  superior  strength,  force  the  delin- 
quent to  perform  the  required  act, — the  act  of  course 
as  in  the  former  case,  being  one  of  a  kind  properly 
within  reach  of  force. 

While  on  general  principles,  or  if  too  largely  em- 
ployed, such  a  species  of  discipline  may  seem  objec- 
tionable, it  is  within  the  range  above  indicated,  quite 
reasonable.  It  is  not  always  desirable,  as  in  the  first 
case  supposed,  to  inflict  corporal  punishment  on  the 
extremely  young.  Nay,  in  many  cases  there  is  no 
need  of  applying  the  rod  at  all;  the  thoroughly 
attained  consciousness  that  the  teacher  has  ample 
power  to  enforce  his  demands,  being  quite  sufficient 
to  prevent  further  attempts  at  resistance.  Beyond 
this,  there  are  minds,  not  only  juvenile  but  adult,  in 
which  the  primary  idea  of  supremacy  is  simply  that 
of  superior  power.  This  is,  of  course,  not  tho  truest 
idea,  nor  the  one  ultimately  to  bo  established.  But 
wherever  it  prevails,  the  capacity  and  the  rectitude 
of  the  authority  as  resting  en  this  basis  alone,  must 


GENEKAL  ELEMENTS:  PUNISHMENT.  247 

be  practically  demonstrated,  otherwise  the  way  is  not 
open  for  the  effective  development  of  the  higher  basis 
of  the  authority  as  properly  constituted  and  as  essen- 
tial to  the  general  welfare.  Hence,  satisfy  the  rebel- 
lious subject,  that  the  power  exists  and  will  be  un- 
hesitatingly applied,  and  one  important  point, — to 
him  the  one  first  important  point, — has  been  gained. 
His  apprehension,  cleared  as  to  the  question  of  power, 
will  be  more  open  to  the  force  of  other  and  higher 
considerations,  into  the  proper  appreciation  of  which 
he  will  speedily  grow. 

•  If  it  be  objected  that  in  such  cases  the  submission 
secured  is  destitute  of  any  voluntary  character  and  is 
so  far  defective ;  it  is  sufficient  to  reply,  that  under 
the  force  of  the  conviction  already  gained  that  re- 
sistance is  futile,  the  subsequent  obedience  will  be- 
come voluntary,  and  that,  while  it  is  not  voluntary 
upon  the  best  or  ultimate  basis,  yet  the  tendency  of 
all  voluntary  obedience  is  toward  a  growing  recogni- 
tion of  the  simple  rightfulness  of  authority  and  of  the 
worthiness  of  pure  rectitude.  One  of  the  worst  effects 
of  unconquered  insubordination  is,  not  that  it  estab- 
lishes the  will  in  its  rebellion,  but  that  it  works  a 
growing  paralysis  of  the  judgment  and  the  reason,  so 
that  the  offender  becomes  incapable  of  discovering 
the  true  relations  of  himself  and  his  evil  conduct,  and 
of  apprehending  the  nature  and  the  claims  of  proper 
rectitude. 

The  specific  rules  for  the  application  of  this  species 
of  discipline,  both  immediate  and  subsequent,  being 


248  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

the  same  as  in  the  case  of  the  other  kinds  of  punish- 
ment, their  consideration  here  is  unnecessary. 

With  regard  to  final  exclusion  as  a  means  of  cor- 
rection, it  is  to  be  remarked  at  the  outset,  that  so  far 
as  the  great  body  of  our  public  schools  are  concerned, 
but  little  need  be  said  of  it  in  this  place,  since  the 
prerogative  of  applying  it,  is  lodged  quite  exclusively 
in  the  hands  of  the  higher  authorities,  the  teacher 
having  little  to  do  in  the  premises,  beyond  the  mere 
making  of  the  proper  representation  as  to  its  necessity. 
In  certain  private  schools,  however,  which  are  the 
sole  property  of  the  teacher,  it  may  be  otherwise. 
Here,  the  whole  power  lying  in  the  hands  of  the 
teacher,  he  may  have  the  right  to  exclude,  just  as 
truly  as  to  inflict  any  other  species  of  punishment. 
In  still  another  class  of  schools  generally  assumed  as 
of  a  higher  order, — in  this  direction  what  they  are 
only  because  of  the  higher  pride  or  prejudice  of  the 
patrons, — the  prerogative  of  exclusion  passes  wholly 
into  the  hands  of  the  teacher,  and  becomes  common 
and  necessary,  simply  because  he  is  practically  pre- 
cluded from  the  use  of  its  only  substitute  and  alter- 
native, corporal  punishment.  On  these  accounts,  it 
is  proper  to  bestow  upon  this  species  of  correction,  a 
somewhat  careful  consideration. 

First,  then,  final  exclusion,  which  is  a  punishment 
only  under  the  same  limitation  which  marked  the  last 
species,  must  always  be  held  as  a  last  resort  and  to 
be  accepted  as  a  necessity,  only  when  all  other  and 
better  appliances,  faithfully  applied,  have  proved 
utterly  futile.     And  for  the  two  reasons,  first,  that  it 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS  :  PUNISHMENT.       249 

not  unfrequently  cuts  the  teacher  off  from  the  power 
to  benefit  or  save  the  offender  ;  and,  secondly,  because 
it  involves  a  practical  confession  of  failure  on  the 
part  of  the  government  of  the  school,  to  secure  the 
best  and  noblest  ends  of  discipline,  just  as  the  am- 
putation of  a  diseased  limb  is  an  acknowledgement 
of  the  failure  and  further  powerlessness  of  the  proper 
curative  agency.  It  is,  in  short,  a  practical  defeat, 
since  whatever  victory  it  may  secure,  it  is  not  the  one 
sought  by  tlio  authority :  the  result  is  not  one  of 
proper  and  wholesome  subjugation  ;  it  is  the  conquest 
of  extermination.  Hence,  no  true  teacher  will  have 
recourse  to  it,  except  he  is  reduced  to  it  as  an  absolute 
and  somewhat  humiliating  necessity. 

Secondly.  Excepting  perhaps  in  those  schools  in 
which  corporal  punishment  is  forbidden,  the  occasions 
for  its  use  are  less  common,  than  is  often  supposed. 
It  is  hardly  to  be  doubted  that  it  is  often  accepted 
as  imperative,  either  because  the  teacher  lacks  real 
force  in  the  use  of  other  means  of  discipline  ;  because 
he  is  of  too  hasty  or  arbitrary  a  temperament ;  or 
because  he  is  indisposed  to  undertake  patiently  and 
resolutely,  the  perhaps  lengthy  and  painful  struggle 
necessary  to  a  victory  through  the  use  of  other  and 
better  means.  We  have  in  mind  two  cases  occurring 
in  our  own  early  experience,  which  we  can  now  clearly 
trace  to  the  first  of  these  causes,  immaturity  and  lack 
of  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  work  to  be  done. 
We  recall  also  a  later  case  of  a  most  marked  char- 
acter, in  which  a  seemingly  hopeless  young  man  was, 
,  through  the  use-  of  the  proper  patience  and  tact,  re- 

11* 


250  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

duced  to  perfect  control  and  won  to  a  real  and  most 
friendly  regard.  And  jet  this  very  young  man  was,  by 
his  very  next  teacher,  and  for  no  greater  insubordi- 
nation, summarily  excluded  from  the  school,  with 
certainly  no  better  results  to  the  latter,  and  to  the 
entire  destruction  of  that  teacher's  influence  over 
him.  In  this  case,  the  course  pursued  was  due  to  no 
lack  of  power  or  experience,  for  both  were  of  a  supe- 
rior order,  but  to  an  arbitrariness  of  temper  growing 
out  of  an  excessive  sensibility  to  the  claims  of  pure 
justice.  We  doubt  not  a  careful  review  of  their  own 
experience  would  bring  the  conviction  of  most  teach- 
ers to  this  same  self-judgment. 

Thirdly.  When  exclusion  has  become  a  true  neces- 
sity, if  it  be  public,  it  is  to  be  administered  according 
to  the  same  general  rules  already  suggested  under 
the  head  of  coercive  punishments.  Its  specific 
method  is  the  same  with  that  of  public  censure.  If 
the  exclusion  is  to  be  private,  as  is  most  commonly 
the  case  in  those  schools  in  which  it  takes  the  place 
of  corporal  punishment,  its  form  is  so  anomalous, 
that  its  specific  method  must  be  determined  alto- 
gether by  the  judgment  of  the  teacher,  as  guided  by 
the  particular  circumstances  of  the  case. 

Lastly.  When  exclusion  has  been  resorted  to,  let 
the  teacher  by  no  means  accept  it  as  necessarily  a 
finality.  Possibly,  he  may  yet  in  some  way  be  able 
to  reach  the  offender  for  the  purpose  of  reformatory 
effort.  If  any  such  way  be  open,  let  him  seek  out 
the  excluded  member,  and  privately  press  upon  him 
the  unworthiness  of  sitting  down  cither  stubborulv 


GENERAL  ELEMENTS:   PUNISHMENT.  251 

or  stolidly  under  the  burden  of  the  inflicted  disgrace  ; 
open  to  his  mind  the  practicability  of  reclaiming  his 
position  and  redeeming  his  character ;  and  urge  upon 
him  the  inherent  nobleness  of  a  resolute  effort  at 
amendment.  When  the  teacher  becomes  reasonably 
assured  that  these  considerations  are  properly  felt, 
and  that  reparation  and  reformation  will  be  heartily 
attempted,  let  him  take  measures  to  secure  the  re- 
versal of  the  decree  of  exclusion,  and  effect  the  res- 
toration of  the  offender  to  his  former  place.  In  some 
cases  it  may  be  well,  with  the  private  consent  of  the 
proper  authorities,  to  reinstate  him  quietly  upon 
trial,  reserving  the  formal  restoration  to  such  a  time 
as  may  have  sufficed  to  evince  his  sincerity  and  prob- 
ability of  success  in  the  direction  of  permanent 
amendment.  If  the  teacher  is  successful  in  these 
endeavors,  his  victory  is  signal  and  cannot  fail  to 
sustain  powerfully  both  the  vigor  and  the  benevo- 
lence of  his  administration.  Still  we  insist  that  the 
better  victory  is  that  won,  as  previously  counseled, 
before  and  without  exclusion. 

The  overlooking  of  this  last  grand  principle  is  not 
confined  to  the  precincts  of  the  school ;  it  is  one  too 
painfully  common  throughout  society,  to  which  fact 
the  teacher  is  doubtless  largely  indebted  for  his  own 
tendency  in  this  direction.  To  the  thoughtful  mind, 
there  will  readily  occur  the  sorrowful  spectacle  of 
many  a  difficult  and  abortive  attempt  at  the  reclama- 
tion of  the  fallen  who  have  been  summarily  excluded 
by  society  from  its  pale,  and  abandoned  to  their  fate. 
And  the  conviction  can  hardly  be  escaped  that  had 


252  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

they  been  seized  upon  with  the  same  resolution  and 
benevolence,  while  they  were  yet  within  sight  of  the 
lost  Eden  of  blessing,  and  painfully  alive  to  their 
present  degradation  and  impending  ruin,  the  moment 
of  imminent  and  priceless  opportunity  would  have 
been  won,  and  they  would  have  been  found  despair- 
ingly eager  to  snatch  at  the  feeblest  chance  of  re- 
demption. But  no  ;  the  sublime  and  touching  lesson 
taught  by  the  Great  Teacher  in  the  case  of  the  adul- 
terous woman,  is  lost  upon  the  higher  virtue  and 
severer  rectitude  of  human  society;  and  so,  multi- 
tudes of  those,  originally  the  noblest  and  the  most 
lovely,  are  consigned  to  a  doom  which  makes  the 
pitying  soul  sicken  and  cry  out  with  mingled  indig- 
nation and  anguish. 

It  must  not  be  understood,  however,  that  in  press- 
ing these  considerations,  the  ground  is  taken  that 
this  noble  reformatory  effort  is,  in  either  society  or 
the  school,  the  proper  work  of  government  as  such. 
It  should  be  heartily  countenanced  and  seconded  by 
government :  but  is  not  to  be  authoritatively  under- 
taken by  it.  It  belongs  properly  within  the  province 
of  individual  or  associated  pliilanthropy. 


CHAPTEE  XII. 

APPLICATION  OF  PRINCIPLES  TO  SPECIFIC  SCHEMES  OF 
DISCIPLINE  AND  TO  DEPABTMENTAL  SCHOOLS. 

Occasion  for  examining  specific  Schemes — Self-government  method — Gen- 
eral objections — Self-government  in  the  school  of  two  kinds, — partial 
and  complete — Objections  to  the  first — Practically  an  imposition — Ob- 
jections to  the  second — Still  a  delusion — Overburdens  the  teacher — De- 
stroys true  ideas  of  government — Distracts  the  pupil's  attention — 
Tends  to  dissatisfaction — Self-reporting  scheme — General  nature — Re 
stricted  use  allowed — Objections  to  the  scheme — Teacher  evades  his  own 
duty — Impairs  the  pupil's  moral  sense — Destructive  of  faith  in  the 
teacher's  rule — Demerit  mark  scheme — Its  features — Subdivided  into 
Pure  Merit  Scheme,  Mixed  Form,  and  Pure  Demerit  Scheme— Merit 
scheme — Proper  method  characterized— Its  practical  difficulties — Mixed 
form — General  objections — To  be  treated  as  a  demerit  scheme — Pecu- 
liar features  of  the  pure  demerit  method — Evils  of  the  method— Based  on 
the  false  principle  of  depression — Child  apt  to  bo  left  in  ii^norance  of 
its  real  significance — Tempts  the  teacher  to  neglect  to  inform  him — 
Leads  to  minute  rules — Fails  to  evince  the  real  relation  of  offense  and 
punishment — Too  liable  to  irregular,  hasty,  and  unjust  marking — 
Peculiar  difficulty  resulting  from  the  use  of  two  rolls,  one  of  scholar- 
ship, and  one  of  standing — Only  proper  use  to  be  made  of  rolls  of 
standing — The  application  of  the  demerit  mark  scheme  to  higher  schools 
— Its  difficulties — Sometimes,  nevertheless,  a  necessity — Specific  rules 
for  its  use — Proper  government  for  adult  schools,  that  of  influence — Its 
obstacles  and  its  aids— Departmental  schools — Classified  as  Lower  and 
Higher — Kinds  distinguished — Differences  in  organization — Theoret- 
ical and  current — Specific  rules  for  government  in  the  lover  species — 
Subordinate  should  be  the  ruler  in  his  own  field — Should  govern 
in  harmony  with  the  general  method  of  the  school — Principal  should 
not  make  the  subordinate  a  mere  cipher — Should,  in  punishing,  only 
act  as  an  executive  agent  for  the  subordinate — General  directions  for 


254  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

the  higher  order  of  departmental  schools — Offenses  of  two  kinds;  class 
offenses,  general  offenses — Proper  method  of  adjudicating  them. 

Before  leaving  the  subject  of  discipline  entirely,  it 
is  not  improper  that  some  attention  should  be  given 
to  certain  specific  schemes,  sometimes  devised  for  its 
administration,  and  to  the  particular  application  of 
the  foregoing  principles  to  those  higher  schools  whose 
peculiar  wants  have  not  thus  far  in  the  discussion 
been  especially  noticed.  It  is  true  that  the  general 
principles  already  laid  down  might  seem  a  sufficient 
guide  to  the  truth  in  those  directions.  But  there  are, 
nevertheless,  points  of  particular  importance  or  diffi- 
culty involved,  which  may  escape  the  notice  of  the 
practical  teacher,  or  which,  if  they  occur  to  him,  may 
not  be  so  clearly  accompanied  by  their  proper  solu- 
tion, as  to  prevent  doubt  and  embarrasment. 

As  a  further  reason  for  turning  the  attention  in  this 
direction,  at  this  stage  of  the  discussion,  we  urge  that 
these  schemes  of  discipline,  and  the  difficulties  of  the 
schools  referred  to,  are  intimately  related  to  the  vexed 
question  of  the  "  to  be  or  not  to  be "  of  corporal 
punishment, — the  former,  indeed,  having  their  un- 
suspected but  real  origin  in  a  desire  to  escape  the 
necessity  of  using  it,  and  the  latter,  substantially 
arising  from  obstacles,  either  natural  or  merely  no- 
tional, thrown  in  the  way  of  its  employment,  and  not 
unfrequently  amounting  to  its  practical  prohibition. 
And  these  facts  with  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  mat- 
ters in  question,  and  which  we  believe  have  seldom 
occurred  to  our  educators,  have  here  a  peculiar  signi- 
ficance, and  deserve  to  be  kept  constantly  in  mind 


SELF-GOVEKNMENT    SCHEME.  255 

during  the  progress  of  the  discussion,  since  they  are, 
to  some  extent,  the  secret  key  to  the  real  nature  of 
the  schemes  of  discipline  now  to  be  examined. 

Of  these  schemes,  that  of  Self- Government  comes 
first  in  order.  So  far  as  its  relation  to  the  fundamen- 
tal principles  of  school  government  is  concerned,  this 
scheme  has  already  been  briefly  noticed,  and  its  radical 
errors  suggested.  That  it  disregards  the  law  of  its 
derivation  as  originating  in  parental  government; 
that  it  practically  assumes  the  pupil  to  be  capacitated 
for  the  exercise  of  such  functions,  and  sufficiently 
disposed  to  render  obedience,  to  be  entrusted  with 
the  sovereign  power;  and  that  it  recognizes  in  the 
teacher  the  right  to  transfer  the  performance  of  his 
own  chief  duty  or  any  important  part  of  it,  to  others ; 
— that  it  does  anything  of  this,  is  enough  of  itself  to 
settle  the  character  of  its  claims. 

There  are,  however,  other  considerations  that  pro- 
nounce against  it.  Self-government  in  the  school 
must  be  of  one  of  two  kinds ;  it  must  be  either  in- 
formal and  partial  or  somewhat  systematic  and  com- 
plete ;  that  is,  it  must  be  summed  up  in  incidental 
and  apparent  references  of  questions  and  measures 
to  the  voice  of  the  school  for  their  decision  and  execu- 
tion ;  or  it  must  attempt  something  of  a  formal  or- 
ganization of  the  school  as  a  body  politic,  with  power 
to  detect,  decide  and  perhaps  even  discipline  offenders. 

Now  of  these  two  methods,  it  has  already  been  seen 
that  the  first  is  practically  an  imposition  on  the  simple 
faith  of  the  pupil ;  for  he  exercises  only  a  seeming,  not 
a  real  power.  The  teacher  either  influences  and  guides 


256  SCHOOL    GOVERNMENT. 

the  decisions  and  consequent  action,  or  he  stands  in 
instant  readiness  to  interfere  and  to  counteract  the 
measures  of  the  school,  whenever  they  are  likely  to 
conflict  with  his  own  convictions  of  justice  or  necessity. 
Like  the  priest  behind  the  miraculous  image,  he 
stands  concealed  behind  the  whole  democratic  ma- 
chine, and  practically  determines  its  movements. 
Whether  such  a  scheme  is  really  worthy  of  the 
teacher's  own  sound  judgment  or  just  integrity ; 
whether  it  is  really  a  peculiar  benevolence  to  the 
pupils  themselves;  or  whether  it  can  be  expected 
long  to  work  well  or  to  accomplish  any  very  impor- 
tant ends;  or  whether  it  will  not  speedily  be  dis- 
covered to  be  precisely  the  mere  sham  it  is,  let  the 
sober-thinking  teacher  judge  for  himself. 

But  suppose  that  the  second  form  is  the  one  chosen ; 
how  will  the  case  stand?  To  begin  with,  no  such 
formal  democracy  can  be  consistently  practicable  ex- 
cept in  those  schools  in  which  the  pupils  are  some- 
what advanced  in  maturity  and  knowledge.  With- 
out the  presence  among  the  pupils,  of  a  certain  sound 
judgment  and  manly  self-control,  the  real  power  and 
the  actual  labor  must  remain,  as  in  the  former  case, 
with  the  teacher  alone ;  ostensibly  a  mere  "  primus 
inter  pares,"  he  is,  after  all,  absolutely  imperator. 
The  whole  scheme  is  thus  eviscerated  of  any  true 
reality  or  popular  independence.  But  this  necessary 
restriction  of  this  system  of  school  government  to  the 
maturer  class  of  pupils,  at  once,  decides  the  question 
as  to  its  general  adaptability  or  usefulness. 

Again,  the  work  of  governing,  which,  as  having  to 


SELF-GOVERNMENT    SCHEME.  257 

be  carried  on  conjointly  with  the  work  of  instruction, 
needs  to  be  as  simple  as  possible,  is,  under  this 
scheme,  necessarily  complicated  with  much  new  and 
really  cumbrous  machinery, — machinery,  too,  largely 
subject  in  its  movements,  to  the  notions  of  the  multi- 
tude, and,  therefore,  additionally  perplexing  from  its 
inherent  uncertainty  and  need  of  constant  watch 
and  control.  Now  he  must  be  a  veritable  Atlas,  who 
can  properly  sustain  himself  amidst  the  multifarious 
duties  and  burdens  of  the  school,  with  this  new 
world  of  a  scholastic  democracy  upon  his  shoulders. 
It  is  certainly  competent  for  us  to  urge  that  he  who 
can  do  this  and  properly  carry  out  his  scheme  of  self- 
government,  is  amply  able  to  govern  successfully  upon 
the  truer  and  simpler  basis  of  pure  absolutism,  and 
consequently  has  no  need  of  the  scheme  at  all ;  and  it 
is  positively  certain  that  he  who  cannot  govern  wisely 
and  well  upon  this  latter  basis,  is  necessarily  unequal 
to  the  use  and  perfection  of  any  scheme  of  popular 
self-government  in  the  school,  and  should,  therefore, 
never  attempt  it. 

Still  further,  the  natural  tendency  of  the  scheme 
must  be  to  pervert  the  pupil's  ideas  of  the  nature  of 
true  government,  to  lower  his  conceptions  of  the  just 
majesty  of  law,  and  to  lay  the  foundation  for  restless- 
ness under  any  other  control  than  that  of  his  own 
will.  For,  is  it  not  an  error  to,  in  any  way  inculcate 
the  idea  that  government  must  necessarily  originate 
in  the  will  of  the  governed,  however  inferior  in  capac- 
ity, condition  or  virtue  they  may  be  ?  Can  it  other 
than  eventually  belittle  government  and  abase  law, 


258  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

to  transfer  the  lawgivership  from  the  higher  respon- 
sibility and  capacity  of  the  teacher,  and  bring  it  down 
to  the  level  of  an  investment  in  the  child's  sovereignty  ? 
Should  not  he  who  is  to  be  governed,  be  able  to 
look  up  with  reverence  to,  and  with  faith  in,  authority 
as  enthroned  in  superior  power,  wisdom  and  good- 
ness ?  But  can  the  child  thus  look  up  to,  and  believe 
in  himself  or  in  a  government  thus  begotten  of,  and 
bounded  by,  himself?  Now  as  to  the  other  question, 
— that  of  the  influence  of  such  schemes  in  the  school 
to  engender  future  restlessness  under  authoritative 
restraint,  and  general  insubordination, — we  are  in- 
clined to  the  opinion  that  a  salutary  lesson  may  be 
learned  from  the  necessity  of  our  late  tremendous 
struggle,  to  the  preservation  of  the  national  unity  and 
the  integrity  of  its  government,  and  to  the  awakening 
of  the  people  to  a  just  sense  of  the  vital  importance 
of  undivided  loyalty,  reverence  for  constituted  author- 
ity, and  self-sacrificing  obedience  to  law. 

But  once  more,  finally.  In  whatever  shape  the 
scheme  of  popular  self-government  in  the  school  may 
be  put  forward,  it  is  subject  to  these  other  practical 
evils.  Just  so  far  as  the  details  of  government  are 
imposed  upon  the  pupil,  their  influence  must  be  to 
divert  his  attention  from  that  undivided  interest  and 
application  necessary  to  his  best  progress  in  study. 
Still  further,  its  tendency  must  be  to  create  in  him 
an  over-critical  propensity  in  judging  of  the  proper 
acts  of  the  teacher,  and,  from  the  habit  of  debating 
matters  of  general  moment  in  his  own  mind,  and  of 
expecting  to  have  a  choice  as  to  their  decision,  to 


SELF-BEPOKTINa   SCHEME.  259 

induce  in  him  a  disposition  to  be  dissatisfied  with 
even  the  conclusion  reached  through  the  general 
suffrages  of  the  body  politic.  Every  one  knows  how 
easily  a  question,  quietly  decided  at  once  for  a  class 
or  a  school,  by  the  proper  authority,  becomes,  when 
thrown  open  for  general  discussion  and  popular  de- 
cision, an  occasion  for  difference,  contention,  and  ul- 
timate dissatisfaction.  Hence,  the  weakness  and  folly 
of  teachers  who  are  forever  ready  to  resort  to  a  pub- 
lic vote  in  the  school,  for  the  decision  of  matters  of 
any  real  importance. 

Closely  related  to  this  scheme  of  self-government,  is 
the  Self- Reporting  Scheme,  a  partial  method,  employed 
generally  in  combination  with  some  other  fancied 
system  of  discipline  such  as  that  of  popular  sover- 
eignty or  that  of  demerit  marks.  It  differs  from  the 
former  scheme  chiefly  in  that  it  devolves  upon  the 
pupil,  not  so  much  the  prerogatives  of  legislation  and 
execution,  as  that  of  self-judgment.  Its  marked 
feature  is,  that  it  allows  or  requires  him  to  report  to 
the  teacher  the  measure  of  his  own  merit  or  demerit, 
according  to  his  own  judgment.  It  sometimes  even 
goes  to  the  ridiculous  extreme  of  devolving  upon  him 
the  determination  of  the  reward  or  the  penalty  to  be 
attached. 

Now,  the  teacher  may,  in  his  private  conferences 
with  the  pupil,  endeavor  to  draw  from  him  his  view 
of  his  own  merit  or  demerit,  not  at  all  as  a  basis  of 
judgment,  but  only  that,  if  his  view  be  correct,  the 
pupil  may  be  made  to  feel  that  his  own  reason  and 
conscience  are  to  have  a  voice  with  regard  to  his  con- 


260  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

duct,  either  "  accusing  or  excusing ;"  or,  if  he  has 
judged  improperly,  that  the  teacher  may  be  able  to 
show  him  his  error,  and  thus  enlighten  and  guide  him 
in  his  apprehension  of  truth  and  his  convictions  of 
desert. 

So,  too,  as  merely  an  incidental  act,  not  at  all  as  a 
matter  of  regular  or  frequent  occurrence,  the  teacher 
may,  when  he  knows  the  precise  facts  in  the  case, 
even  publicly  call  for  a  pupil's  opinion  as  to  his  own 
effort  or  behavior ;  not  that  this  opinion  may  serve, 
in  any  part,  as  a  basis  for  his  own  judgment  in  the 
premises,  but  that,  by  correcting  its  error  kindly  and 
without  personal  reference,  he  may  impress  upon  the 
school  their  liability  to  misjudge  both  as  to  the  char- 
acter of  their  own  conduct  and  the  provisions  of  his 
government,  and  may  thus  give  them  moral  instruc- 
tion of  a  most  practical  and  important  nature. 

But,  employed  in  any  other  way,  or  pursued  to  any 
extent  as  part  of  a  scheme  of  discipline,  the  method 
under  consideration  is  both  stupidly  ingenious  and 
transparently  vicious.  For,  first,  if  this  opinion  of 
the  pupil  as  to  his  own  merit  or  demerit  is  sought  as 
a  basis  for  the  teacher's  judgment,  the  thing  is  false 
in  its  first  principles.  As  ruler  in  the  school,  and 
knowing  what  to  establish  as  law,  what  are  you  next 
to  know  but  when,  where  and  how  to  apply  discipline 
for  the  support  of  law  ?  To  read  the  pupil's  char- 
acter, to  discover  his  merits,  to  detect  his  misde- 
meanors, and  to  divine  the  proper  means  for  stimulus 
or  correction, — this  is  the  teacher's  art  of  governing, 
most  "express  and  admirable."    As  such,  we  hold 


SELF-REPORTING    SCHEME.  261 

that  he  has  no  right  to  throw  it  upon  the  pupil,  either 
in  earnest  or  in  mere  pretense.  If  he  does  the  former, 
he  impeaches  either  his  own  capacity  or  faithfulness ; 
if  he  does  the  latter,  he  imposes  upon  the  simple 
faith  of  the  pupil. 

In  the  second  place,  the  direct  tendency  of  this 
species  of  practice  is  to  blunt  the  moral  sense  of  the 
pupil,  and  to  induce  deception  and  falsehood.  Nor  is 
it  of  any  avail  to  argue  the  contrary.  Let  the  pupil 
suppose  that  you  do  in  any  part  rest  upon  his  decision, 
and  how  powerful  is  the  stimulus  to  make  out  a  fair 
case  for  himself,  even  though  at  the  ultimate  ex- 
pense of  the  truth !  Even  suppose  that  he  may  start, 
and  for  a  time  continue  honest,  how  long  under  such 
temptation,  will  he  be  able  to  retain  a  keen  sense  of 
the  difference  between  the  exact  truth  and  a  self-in- 
terested misrepresentation  of  facts  ?  Go  beyond  the 
child  in  the  school,  and  apply  the  same  practice  to 
every  John  Doe  and  Richard  Eoe  in  our  courts  of 
justice,  and  how  long  would  it  be  before  every  honest 
man  would  be  compelled  to  exclaim  with  deeper  feel- 
ing and  graver  cause  than  did  Falstaff;  "Lord !  how 
this  world  is  given  to  lying !"  But  is  it  to  be  sup- 
posed that  the  heedless  boy  who  does  not  so  much 
discriminate  between  right  and  wrong,  as  between 
birch  and  not  birch, — is  it  to  be  supposed  that  he 
will  be  proof  against  the  temptation  thus  thrown  in 
his  way  ?  We  say  to  the  teacher,  with  the  profound- 
est  feeling,  before  you  thus  call  upon  the  child  to 
report  for  or  against  himself,  see  to  it  that  you  first 


262  SCHOOL   GOVERNMENT. 

soberly  repeat  to  yourself  the  prayer,  "  Lead  us  not 
into  temptation." 

In  the  third  place,  there  is  another  evil  incident  to 
the  use  of  this  scheme,  if  not  certain  to  accompany 
it.  Suppose  that  the  teacher,  while  making  use  of 
tho  pupil's  self-reporting  statement,  does  not  accept 
it  without  qualification,  as  a  basis  of  judgment,  but 
corrects  it  by  his  own  knowledge.  Here,  the  trust  of 
the  first  act  is  practically  supplanted  by  the  distrust 
of  the  second  act,  and  how  long  will  it  be,  before  the 
pupil  will  penetrate  to  this  secret  of  your  strategy  ? 
But  you  may  depend  upon  it,  that  just  so  soon  as  he 
becomes  satisfied  that  you  go  back  of  his  untrustcd 
word,  after  the  trusted  facts,  the  fair  fabric  of  your 
whole  scheme  will  dissolve  like  the  frail  frost-work 
of  the  night  under  the  morning  sun,  and,  what  is 
worse,  with  it  will  vanish  the  pupil's  better  estimate 
of  your  character  as  worthy  of  his  admiration  and 
confidence.  The  fact  is,  in  dealing  with  the  young, 
no  truth  is  more  distinct  and  vital  than  that  there  is 
no  safe  half-way  between  distrust  and  faith. 

"We  pass  now  to  the  consideration  of  the  last  of 
these  specific  schemes  which  involve  a  practical  at- 
tempt to  escape  the  use  of  penal  infliction  in  the  cor- 
rection of  offenses.  This  scheme,  which  is  a  sort  of 
double-entry  affair,  and,  in  its  way,  collects  and  pres- 
ents the  debits  and  credits  of  the  pupil's  dealing  in 
the  school,  will  perhaps  be  most  readily  recognized 
as  "  The  Demerit  3Iark  System."  This  title,  however, 
belongs  properly  to  one  of  its  extreme  phases ;  for  a 
system  of  discipline  through  a  record  of  standing, 


DEMERIT  MARK   SCHEME.  2f>3 

may  involve  three  species;  namely,  that  of  Pure 
Merit;  the  Mixed  Form;  and  the  Pure  Demerit 
System. 

The  merit  scheme  should  be  marked  by  the  follow- 
ing characteristics.  It  should  start  with  a  certain 
average  standard  of  character,  or  sum  of  merit,  as- 
sumed as  common  to  all  the  members  of  the  school. 
This  starting  point,  however,  should  never  be  zero. 
That  would  be  like  compelling  an  inexperienced  man 
to  commence  a  difficult  business  without  capital ;  to 
begin  the  building  of  a  house  without  even  foundation 
or  site.  On  the  contrary,  every  pupil  should  be  made 
to  feel  that  he  possesses  some  actual  merit  that  is 
appreciated,  and  that  appears  on  the  roll  of  standing, 
fairly  credited  to  him.  This  gives  him  a  hopeful 
foundation  upon  which  to  build  ;  an  encouraging  ac- 
cumulation to  which  he  may  add,  the  natural  stim- 
ulus nowhere  so  necessary  as  in  the  creation  of  char- 
acter, and  above  all,  in  its  formation  and  improve- 
ment among  the  young. 

Proceeding  upon  this  assumed  basis  of  merit,  the 
teacher  should  carefully  add  to  the  credit  of  the 
pupil,  upon  his  roll,  the  sum  of  everything  worthily 
done  beyond  the  regular  order,  or  done  above  a  mere 
average  within  it.  That  it  should  rise  above  a  mere 
average  in  performance,  is  clear,  since  that  alone  in- 
dicates no  real  advance  from  the  starting  point ;  and 
that  whatever  is  done  beyond  the  regular  order 
should  be  credited  entire,  rests  upon  the  fact  that  it 
is  just  so  far  an  advance  beyond  mere  ordinary  merit. 

But  no  notice  whatever  is  to  be  taken  of  acts  of 


264  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

demerit :  it  is  foreign  to  the  entire  principle  and  spirit 
of  the  scheme.  Tour  object  is  to  develop  merit  by 
encouragement.  So  far  as  you  do  that,  you  are,  not 
only  discountenancing,  but  really  supplanting  demerit, 
and  in  a  really  more  effective  manner,  because  it  is 
indirect  and  unobserved.  Hence,  it  is  of  vital  im- 
portance that  the  pupil's  attention  should  be  studi- 
ously kept  fastened  solely  upon  the  more  hopeful 
prospect, — that  of  increasing  merit,  or  growing  ex- 
cellence. The  same  law  holds  good  here,  that  obtains 
in  the  case  of  generous  approval  and  encouragement 
as  opposed  to  depressing  criticism  and  habitual 
censure,  of  which  notice  has  elsewhere  been  taken. 

Of  the  general  correctness  of  this  scheme,  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  We  suspect,  however,  that  it  is 
rarely,  if  ever,  practically  adopted.  And,  probably, 
for  the  reason  that  it  is  attended  with  the  following 
difficulties  :  it  is  more  congenial  to  human  nature  to 
interest  itself  in  the  faults  of  others  than  in  their  ex- 
cellences ;  it  is  really  easier  to  detect  and  to  measure 
the  former  satisfactorily  to  one's  self  than  it  is  to 
properly  discern  and  estimate  the  latter ;  and,  lastly, 
in  the  work  of  deciding  upon  the  character  and 
measure  of  a  wrong,  passion  affords  a  powerful  aid 
(we  say  nothing  of  its  worthiness)  which  is  not  present 
or  available  when  one  has  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  a 
just  or  virtuous  action.  How  far  these  difficulties 
should  be  suffered  to  have  weight  with  the  intelligent 
and  earnest  teacher,  we  leave  for  him  to  decide. 

Of  the  mixed  form  of  the  marking  system,  it  is 
difficult  to  speak  satisfactorily.    In  its  general  method, 


DEMERIT  MARK  SCHEME.  265 

it  of  course  includes  a  recognition  in  the  roll  of  stand- 
ing, of  both  merit  and  demerit.  But  this  very  fact 
subjects  it  to  grave  exception.  From  what  has  just 
been  urged,  it  will  be  seen  that  so  far  as  it  is  a  demerit 
scheme,  it  is  necessarily  false  in  principle,  and  un- 
happy in  its  tendencies.  Besides  this,  it  will  be 
equally  apparent  that  the  combination  of  the  two 
methods  involves  a  practical  incongruity  in  the  whole, 
which  is  objectionable  ;  and  further,  if  both  the  merit 
and  demerit  elements  are  equally  developed,  the 
scheme  is  rendered  altogether  too  complicated  to 
secure  a  just  attention  and  application.  A  perhaps 
worse  evil  than  even  these  is  the  fact  that,  for  reasons 
already  suggested,  the  demerit  element  will  like  Pha- 
raoh's kine,  lean  and  ill-favored,  practically  devour  the 
rest,  and  without  becoming  itself  the  fairer  or  the 
better  for  the  operation ;  that  is  to  say,  in  the  minds 
of  both  teacher  and  pupils,  the  demerit  marking  will 
come  eventually  to  assume  the  chief,  if  not  the  sole 
importance  and  interest. 

The  facts,  just  noticed,  show  this  mixed  form  of  the 
marking  scheme  to  be  so  nearly  related  to  that  of 
pure  demerit,  that  we  shall,  proceed  to  the  considera- 
tion of  that,  at  once.  The  attention  will  first  be 
directed  to  its  characteristics  as  applied  to  schools 
for  the  younger  class  of  pupils,  in  which  the  use  of 
punishment  is  not  wholly  discarded.  The  method 
here  pursued  is  substantially  the  following.  The 
slips  and  misdemeanors  of  the  pupil,  sometimes  even 
those  of  a  minute  and  trivial  character,  are  carefully 
noted,  and,  by  means  of  a  set  of  symbols,  charged  to 


2G0  RCnOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

his  account  upon  a  class  roll.  Sometimes,  as  a  sort 
of  refinement  upon  its  already  complicated  provisions, 
a  weekly  bill  of  the  accumulating  wickedness  is  made 
out  upon  a  card,  and  transmitted  to  the  parent  for 
his  examination  and  endorsement,  generally  with  no 
accompanying  explanation  of  its  mysterious  symbols 
or  provisions.  When  the  pupil  has,  in  due  process 
of  time,  either  exhausted  the  patience  of  the  teacher, 
or  run  up  an  amount  regarded  as  sufficiently  fla- 
grant, the  account  is  balanced  by  inflicting  the  actual 
punishment,  ostensibly  for  the  last  transgression, 
though  perhaps  really  for  the  sum  total. 

Now,  to  all  this,  there  are  certainly  grave  objec- 
tions. First.  The  whole  scheme  is  based  on  the 
false  principle  already  suggested, — that  of  censure 
rather  than  approval ;  of  depression  rather  than 
stimulus  and  encouragement. 

Secondly.  It  is  quite  possible  for  the  child  to  fail 
altogether  of  obtaining  a  clear  idea  of  the  real  pro- 
visions of  the  scheme  and  of  the  symbols  employed 
in  marking  the  charges  against  him.  Indeed,  we 
have  known  the  scheme  to  be  employed  with  no  de- 
cent, not  to  say  adequate,  pains  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher,  to  explain  it  to  him,  so  that  he  might  under- 
stand his  true  position  under  discipline,  and  the  real 
purport  of  the  entries  made  against  him.  We  have 
known  a  little  fellow  to  be  left  so  lost  in  its  luminous 
provisions,  that  he  represented  hhnself  as  having 
"got  a  deportment,"  the  precise  nature  of  which 
disaster  he  was  unable  to  state.  We  have  seen  an- 
other sorely  puzzled  about  what  he  called  "a  minus 


DEMERIT  MARK   SCHEME.  267 

extra,"  when  he  knew  no  more  of  the  meaning  of 
minus  and  extra,  than  he  did  of  Minos  and  Rhada- 
manthus.  We  have  overheard  still  another,  who  was 
dubiously  balancing  himself  upon  the  curb-stone  after 
school,  complaining  to  his  companion  that  he  had 
been  marked  by  his  teacher,  and  without  his  knowing 
for  what. 

Now,  it  is  an  imperative  rule  in  all  discipline  of 
children,  that  they  should  be  made  to  know  unmistak- 
ably both  the  nature  of  their  fault  and  the  significance 
and  justice  of  the  penalty.  But  in  the  scheme  under 
consideration,  it  is  easy  to  see  how  painfully  this  very 
knowledge  may  be  wanting.  Nor  is  it  any  excuse  to 
urge  that,  in  such  cases  as  the  above,  its  absence  is 
chargeable  to  the  neglect  of  the  teacher  rather  than 
to  the  viciousness  of  the  scheme  itself. 

For  thirdly.  We  charge  that  it  is  in  the  very  nature 
of  the  scheme  to  induce  this  gross  neglect.  Removed 
from  the  necessity  of  immediately  inflicting  punish- 
ment, the  registry  of  the  charge  which  might  justify 
it  comes  to  be  unconsciously  regarded  as  a  mere 
matter  of  marking  down  a  certain  symbol,  and,  hence, 
the  inevitable  tendency  is  to  do  the  whole  informally, 
and  with  no  feeling  sense  of  its  real  bearing  upon  the 
pupil,  and,  consequently,  with  no  effort  to  impress 
upon  him,  its  disciplinary  nature  and  importance. 
It  is  not  strange,  then,  that  teachers  who  employ  this 
method,  rarely  follow  up  the  use  of  demerit  marks 
with  those  subsequent  moral  applications  which  are 
so  essential  to  all  just  and  wholesome  discipline. 

Fourthlv.  In  the  same  direction  lies  another  evil. 


268  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

For  the  same  reasons  as  in  the  preceding  case,  the 
teacher  is  subjected  to  the  constant  temptation  to 
mark  for  trivial  offenses,  and  will  consequently  mul- 
tiply minute  rules  to  meet  such  offenses,  and  to  justify 
the  recorded  censure.  Yet,  as  has  already  been  seen, 
all  such  minute  requisitions  and  inflictions  are  a  con- 
tradiction of  the  fundamental  principles  of  all  good 
government,  and  a  trespass  upon  the  first  elements 
of  the  child's  nature.  Their  direct  tendency  is  either 
to  keep  the  pupil  under  a  petty  and  perpetual  ha- 
rassment, or  to  blunt  the  fineness  of  his  moral  sensi- 
bility. 

Still  further,  from  this  minuteness  in  requisition, 
and  informality  in  attaching  penalties,  the  pupil  is 
trained  to  a  feeling  of  contempt,  not  only  for  the 
punishment,  but  for  the  actual  transgression,  and  so 
comes  to  entertain  a  low  idea  of  the  importance  of 
law,  and  of  the  force  of  moral  responsibility.  Yet 
nothing  can  be  clearer  than,  that  discipline  which 
does  not,  in  the  apprehension  of  the  subject,  magnify 
the  law  and  make  it  honorable ;  which  does  not  set 
in  clearer  light  the  evil  of  transgression  ;  and  which 
does  not  sharpen  the  sense  of  responsibility,  is  just 
so  far  demoralizing  and  vicious.  And  that  all  this  is 
really  the  practical  result  of  the  use  of  this  marking 
scheme  in  juvenile  schools,  we  believe  the  experience 
of  every  observing  teacher  will  attest. 

Fifthly.  In  case  the  pupil  is  finally  punished,  there 
arise  these  other  evils.  If  he  is  punisjied  simply  for 
the  last  offense  for  which  he  is  marked,  inasmuch  as 
no  reason  may  appear  for  his  not  being  punished  for 


DEMERIT  MAItK   SCHEME.  269 

the  others  which  preceded,  either  the  teacher  will  seem 
unjust  for  not  having  inflicted  punishment  for  the 
others ;  or  if  they  did  not  deserve  it,  then  he  will  seem 
unjust  in  inflicting  it  for  the  last.  If,  however,  he  is 
punished  for  the  sum  total  which,  since  the  teacher 
cannot  well  keep  out  of  mind  the  entire  result  of  his 
marking,  is  likely  to  be  practically  the  fact,  the  pupil 
will  fail  to  get  any  just  idea  of  the  relation  existing 
between  transgression  and  penalty.  What  he  was 
marked  for, — the  actual  fault, — he  has  forgotten. 
What  he  has  in  mind  is  simply  the  marks  either 
separately  or  in  their  sum.  Hence,  associating  the 
penalty  only  with  what  he  immediately  knows,  he 
apprehends  himself  as  punished  for  the  so  many 
marks.  Yet,  he  is  neither  likely  to  discover  any  real 
criminality  in  the  existence  of  so  many  marks  against 
him,  nor  is  he  capable  of  perpetrating  such  an  ab- 
straction as  to  apprehend  the  sum  total  of  the  marks 
as  a  fixed  symbol  of  the  accumulated  wickedness  for 
which  he  is  punished. 

Finally.  Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  that  there  can 
be  no  certainty  of  the  exercise  of  cool  and  evenhanded 
justice  in  affixing  the  marks  of  demerit  to  the  pupil's 
standing.  Where  there  are  several  teachers,  as  in  a 
departmental  school,  no  two  teachers  can  be  expected 
to  form  the  same  precise  judgment  as  to  the  character 
of  the  same  act,  or  as  to  its  proper  measure  of  de- 
merit. In  one  room  or  class,  the  pupil  will  be  marked 
severely,  and  in  another,  lightly  for  the  same  offense. 
Besides  this,  even  in  the  case  of  the  single  teacher, 
there  is  every  probability  that  he  will  mark  differ- 


270  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

ently,  at  different  times,  for  the  same  act.  At  one 
time,  it  will  appear  to  him,  and  from  the  better  con- 
dition of  his  judgment  and  feelings,  quite  justly,  as 
comparatively  trivial  and  unworthy  of  notice.  At 
another,  when  he  is  harassed  with  the  pressure  of 
his  other  duties,  or  vexed  with  some  unexpected  com- 
plication of  affairs,  or,  perhaps,  simply  ill  or  out  of 
temper,  down  will  go  upon  his  roll  a  singeing  token 
of  his  displeasure  in  the  shape  of  a  ten  or  a  twenty, 
— we  have  even  known  a  teacher  call  out  to  an 
offender  in  the  class,  "  I  give  you  eighty  demerits  for 
conversation," — the  only  effect  of  which  was  to  set 
him  at  a  ludicrous  calculation  of  the  particular  per 
cent,  effect  of  the  operation  upon  his  standing.  A 
system  open  to  such  flagrant  abuses,  is  certainly 
"  more  honored  in  the  breach  than  the  observance." 

There  is  another  difficulty  sometimes  experienced 
in  connection  with  this  marking  method  which  is  al- 
together peculiar.  By  a  refinement  in  details,  the 
scheme  is  made  to  embrace  two  distinct  rolls  of 
standing,  one  for  scholarship  and  the  other  for  good 
behavior.  Now  in  theory,  it  is  not  only  right  that 
conduct  should  be  recognized  in  the  marking,  but 
it  should  stand  foremost  as  the  basis  of  merit  or 
demerit.  This  principle  has  been  fully  presented 
in  connection  with  the  subject  of  rewards.  And  yet, 
here  arises  the  difficulty.  It  is  found  that  when  two 
rolls  are  thus  employed,  not  only  does  not  the  mark- 
ing for  conduct  enlist  the  first  interest ;  but,  if  the 
standing  on  the  scholarship  roll  is  low,  a  high  stand- 
ing on  the  conduct  roll  is  a  cause  of  uneasiness. 


DEMERIT  MARK  SCHEME.  271 

Both  the  nature  and  the  philosophy  of  the  fact 
may  be  seen  from  an  illustration.  Let  A  stand  on 
the  scholarship  roll  at  2,  on  a  scale  whose  maximum 
is  10,  and  at  the  same  time  stand  at  8,  on  the  con- 
duct roll.  A  is  then  one  of  the  best  boys  in  the 
school,  but  one  of  the  poorest  scholars.  Now  what 
is  the  inference  on  the  part  of  pupil  and  parents? 
Simply  this,  A  is  one  of  the  poorest  scholars,  not 
because  he  is  a  bad  boy,  but  because  lie  is  dull  and 
stupid,  his  very  goodness  serving  as  a  proof  that  he 
has  done  the  best  he  can.  Now  the  conduct  roll,  by 
evincing  his  goodness,  comes  to  stand  as  proof  of  his 
dullness  ;  for,  without  it,  it  might  have  been  inferred 
that  A  was  smart  enough,  but  had  been  negligent. 
The  evident  tendency  of  all  this  must  be  not  only  to 
destroy  the  disciplinary  utility  of  the  conduct  roll, 
but  really  to  induce  bad  behavior  in  poor  students. 

Now,  unreasonable  as  this  view  of  things  may  be, 
it  is  unavoidable.  It  grows  out  of  the  fact  that  men 
respect  ability  more  than  goodness.  Hence,  in  their 
apprehension,  ability,  like  charity,  covers  a  multitude 
of  sins.  It  is  out  of  this,  that  there  arises  the  ten- 
dency of  teachers  to  mark  lightly  and  with  reluct- 
ance, the  offense  of  a  good  scholar ;  while,  for  the 
same  offense  committed  by  the  luckless  scape-goat 
of  the  class,  they  will  slap  down  on  the  roll  promptly 
and  with  a  grim  sort  of  satisfaction,  the  full  charge 
of  demerit.  For  the  same  reason,  the  parent  will 
evince  far  greater  complacency  under  the  charge 
that  his  boy  is  a  rogue,  than  is  possible  under  the 
implication  that  he  is  a  lackbrain.     Whatever  com- 


272  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

plaint  you  may  make  of  his  behavior,  give  him  the 
credit  of  being  the  best  scholar  in  the  class,  and  yon 
salve  the  wound  effectually.  The  scholarship  gratifies 
the  parent's  pride ;  the  roguery  he  complacently  dis- 
poses of  as  "  wild  oats," — a  grain  which  we  fear  is 
getting  to  be  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception, 
among  our  youth.  But  assure  the  parent  as  warmly 
as  you  will,  that,  while  the  boy  is  one  of  the  dullest 
of  scholars,  he  is  a  very  model  of  good  conduct,  and 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  you  will  inflict  a,  perhaps 
concealed,  but  yet  mortal  wound. 

The  influence  of  all  this  to  complicate  the  marking 
system,  and  destroy  its  effectiveness,  needs  no  further 
illustration. 

With  regard,  now,  to  the  use  of  the  demerit  mark 
scheme  in  schools  for  pupils  of  a  maturer  class,  the 
reflecting  teacher  will  at  once  see  that  many  of  the 
objections,  just  urged  against  it,  hold  equally  good 
in  this  higher  field.  It  is  here,  just  as  truly  as  before, 
opposed  to  the  true  theory  of  discipline, — that  of  ele- 
vation or  encouragement ;  and  it  is  quite  as  certain 
to  be  irregular,  capricious,  and  even  unrighteous  in 
its  application.  There  will,  of  course,  from  the  greater 
maturity  of  the  pupils,  be  less  room  for  ignorance  or 
misapprehension  as  to  its  provisions  and  their  imme- 
diate bearing  on  the  offenses  in  question.  But  that 
very  maturity,  and  the  capacity  it  gives  to  compre- 
hend thus  much,  will  also  enable  them  to  detect  more 
easily  its  errors.  It  thus  ensures  the  certainty  that, 
unless  the  scheme  be  employed  with  a  masterly  skill, 
it  will  come  to  be  held  in  still  deeper  contempt  than 


DEMERIT  MARK   SCHEME.  273 

was  possible  in  the  case  of  younger  pupils.  And  it 
cannot  but  be  seen  that  this  contempt  must  be  the 
more  certain  and  aggravated  from  the  simple  fact 
that  the  teacher  is  powerless  to  supplement  its  weak- 
ness, by  the  sterner  sanctions  of  penal  infliction. 

Here,  then,  arises  the  all-important  question, 
"  What  is  the  teacher  in  these  higher  schools  to  do  ? 
He  may  not  make  use  of  penal  inflictions ;  if  he  is 
not  to  employ  this  marking  scheme  of  discipline, 
what  resource  has  he?"  To  this  we  answer,  first, 
"Necessity  knows  no  law."  Bad  as  the  demerit  mark 
scheme  is,  he  may  have  to  employ  it.  But  if  he  does 
resort  to  it,  let  him,  in  the  light  of  the  foregoing 
considerations,  correct  its  common  defects  as  far  as 
he  can.  Let  him  employ  its  symbols  solely  as  private 
memoranda  which  may  serve  as  a  basis  for  a  just 
knowledge  in  laboring  with  the  pupil  in  private,  and 
for  a  righteous  judgment  in  determining  the  propriety 
of  final  exclusion.  Let  thorough  dispassionateness 
characterize  all  his  marking,  and,  if  he  can  not  other- 
wise secure  this,  let  him  never  mark  at  the  instant 
nor  upon  the  immediate  impulse.  If  he  be  indisposed 
or  irritated,  he  had  better  not  mark  at  all ;  let  not 
both  teacher  and  pupil  suffer  at  once  for  the  infirm- 
ities of  human  nature. 

And,  lastly,  let  him  never  announce  the  marking  to 
the  pupil  in  public  :  it  is  an  error  in  principle,  and  an 
abomination  in  practice,  which  is  only  calculated  to 
react  in  either  exasperation  or  contempt,  upon  the 
discipline  itself.  Let  not  the  teacher,  even  in  his 
private   conferences   with   the   pupil,  mention  it  in 


274  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

form  ;  this  is  hardly  less  mischievous  than  the  other. 
The  roll  is  the  teacher's  private  guide ;  the  pupil 
has  no  more  right  of  access  to  it  than  he  has  to 
his  "Daily  Memorandum."  The  teacher's  final  de- 
cision as  to  the  pupil's  standing  embraces  general 
facts  beyond  the  reach  of  the  roll.  If,  now,  he  pre- 
viously announces  the  pupil's  standing  according  to 
the  mere  roll  marks,  his  subsequent  judgment  is  cut 
off  from  modification ;  or,  if  modified,  is  likely  to  be 
disputed  by  the  pupil.  Once  more,  announce  the 
standing  according  to  the  roll  marks  with  any  degree 
of  frequency,  and  the  pupil  will  soon  be  taught  to 
study  merely  for  the  mark  standing,  and  not  at  all 
for  the  higher  ends  of  duty  and  self-conscious 
worthiness.  He  becomes  a  mere  mercenary  laborer, 
as  in  the  case  of  prizes. 

The  truth  is,  all  that  should  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  pupil  is  the  substantial  character  of  his  con- 
duct, as  it  lies  in  the  teacher's  mind,  and  as  positively 
defined  by  his  record.  This  may,  and  should,  be  as 
distinctly  set  before  the  pupil,  as  is  needful  to  secure 
in  liim  a  just  knowledge  of  his  delinquency  and  duty, 
and  to  afford  a  sufficient  ground  for  the  presentation 
of  those  moral  considerations  which  are,  in  his  case, 
the  only  real  means  of  correction. 

This  last  thought  naturally  suggests  the  second 
answer  to  the  main  question.  And  that  is,  that  just 
in  proportion  as  the  pupil  advances  toward  maturity 
of  age  and  capacity,  the  government  of  the  school 
must  pass  from  the  lower  to  the  higher  species.  The 
government  of  mere  force  must  necessarily  expiro  at 


DEPARTMENTAL  SCHOOLS.  275 

an  early  period.  The  government  of  authority  en- 
dures longer.  It  may  indeed  be  regarded  as  holding 
some  important  place  throughout  the  whole  of  the 
pupil's  career  in  the  school ;  latterly,  not  as  the  chief 
means  or  reliance,  but  rather  as  a  sustaining  element 
in  the  use  of  the  higher  species.  In  the  last  stage, 
the  government  of  influence  enters  the  field  as  the 
chief,  and  often  sole  means  of  hopeful  and  effective 
control  in  the  school.  He,  therefore,  who,  in  the 
government  of  adult  pupils,  cannot  skilfully  and  suc- 
cesfully  apply  its  provisions,  will  sooner  or  later  be 
driven  to  an  unconditional  surrender  of  his  preroga- 
tives as  ruler.  To  this,  there  is  but  one  alternative, 
and  that  too  seldom  practicable  among  us ;  namely, 
the  establishment  of  a  purely  military  rule. 

The  resort  to  the  government  of  influence  in  our 
higher  schools,  unsupported,  as  to  a  great  extent  it 
must  be,  by  the  direct  sanctions  of  positive  authority, 
will  undoubtedly  be  attended  with  some  difficulties. 
But,  inasmuch  as  those  difficulties  are  only  such  as 
always  attend  the  proper  management  and  control  of 
men,  they  are  no  just  cause  for  discouragement. 
Nay,  rather,  the  field  thus  opened  to  the  true  teacher 
should  be  one  of  especial  ambition,  since  here  only 
is  it  that  his  highest  executive  skill,  his  truest  practi- 
cal greatness  as  a  man,  is  to  be  developed  or  evinced. 

And,  further,  in  this  transition  from  the  lower  to 
this  higher  species  of  government  in  the  school,  there 
are,  with  the  increased  difficulties,  some  peculiar 
attending  advantages.  That  very  maturity  which 
compels  a  resort  to  influence,  renders  the  pupil  more 


276  SCHOOL   GOVERNMENT. 

accessible  to  its  effective  use.  He  can  now  better 
understand  and  appreciate  the  genial  good  will  which 
brings  the  teacher  into  closer  association  with  him  as 
a  companion  and  friend.  He  can  more  clearly  com- 
prehend the  nature  and  force  of  the  reasonings  by 
which  his  true  interest  and  obligation  are  enforced 
upon  his  conscience.  And  his  moral  susceptibilities, 
though  often  sadly  blunted,  are  yet,  if  properly 
approached  and  wrought  upon,  better  adapted  to 
substantial  and  permanent  effects,  than  is  to  be  ex- 
pected in  the  case  of  younger  pupils.  If,  with  these 
facts  before  him,  the  teacher  is  still  incapable  of 
applying  himself  patiently  and  resolutely  to  the  use 
of  this  higher  species  of  control,  he  is  fitter  to  be 
governed  than  to  govern. 

There  are  certain  points  connected  with  the  govern- 
ment of  departmental  sehools,  which,  while  not  ne- 
cessarily involved  in  this  connection,  may  be  more 
conveniently  noticed  here  than  elsewhere.  We  shall 
therefore  give  them  such  attention  as  their  general 
importance  demands,  though  necessarily  in  brief. 

By  departmental  schools  we  mean  such  as  are 
under  the  conduct  of  a  number  of  teachers,  principal 
and  subordinate,  and  as  consequently  appear  in 
several  divisions,  either  more  or  less  distinctly  organ- 
ized. They  are  of  two  kinds  ;  those  of  a  lower  order,  in 
which  the  several  teachers  are  not  held  as  constituting 
a  faculty  proper,  in  which  the  division  of  the  school 
is  not  one  of  specific  departments,  and  in  which  the 
pupils,  during  the  school  hours,  are  held  to  a  fixed 
and  common  place  of  study  ;  and  those  of  the  higher 


DEPARTMENTAL   SCHOOLS.  277 

order,  in  which  the  departments  are  organized  on  the 
basis  of  specialties  in  instruction  or  distinct  courses 
of  study,  in  which  the  teachers  or  professors  form  a 
proper  faculty,  and  in  which  the  pupils  are  congregated 
only  in  class  rooms  and  for  the  purpose  of  recitation. 
These  last  are  departmental  schools  proper. 

With  regard  to  the  first  or  lower  order  of  divided 
schools,  there  are  some  practical  difficulties  bearing 
upon  their  government,  which  it  is  not  easy  to  reach. 
For  example,  the  attainment  of  the  most  thorough 
supervision  of  the  several  pupils,  the  greater  simpli- 
fication of  the  discipline,  and  the  more  direct  and 
effective  individualizing  of  cases  under  treatment, 
would  suggest  the  somewhat  equal  distribution  of  the 
pupils  in  different  study-rooms  under  the  different 
teachers,  and  the  consequent  equalization  of  the  re- 
spective shares  of  the  latter  in  the  instruction  and 
government.  On  the  other  hand,  convenience  in  the 
movements  of  the  pupils  and  the  change  of  classes, 
economy  in  the  provision  of  school  rooms,  and  the 
difficulty  of  securing  the  proper  governmental  capacity 
in  all  the  teachers,  to  which  may  be  added  the  public 
hostility  to  the  infliction  of  the  severer  punishments 
except  by  the  highest  authority, — all  these  demand 
the  general  congregation  of  the  pupils  in  one  study- 
room,  and  the  devolving  of  their  general  government 
chiefly  upon  one  teacher,  the  others  being  restricted  to 
the  simple  charge  and  control  of  classes  in  recitation. 

We  shall  enter  into  no  discussion  of  the  relative 
merits  of  these  two  forms,  since  it  is  a  question  of 
^organization  rather  than  government,  and  since  its 


278  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

decision  must  rest,  not  upon  theories,  but  upon  the 
practical  facts  involved.  But,  inasmuch  as  the  latter 
species  of  organization  is  the  one  more  commonly 
adopted,  and  so  far  appears  to  be  practically  accepted 
as  the  best  possible  under  the  circumstances,  we  shall 
confine  ourselves  to  its  exclusive  consideration. 

So  far  now,  as,  under  this  organization,  the  general 
government  of  the  school  as  devolving  upon  the 
teacher  permanently  in  charge  of  the  study-room,  is 
concerned,  the  principles  of  the  art  as  herein  set  forth 
are  of  direct  application,  and  constitute  of  themselves  a 
sufficient  guide.  But  there  are  specific  questions  that 
may  arise  with  regard  to  the  duties  and  prerogatives 
of  subordinates,  merely  in  charge  of  classes  in  recita- 
tion, that  require  a  more  definite  solution.  The  fol- 
lowing considerations  are,  therefore,  urged  as  chiefly 
important  in  the  premises. 

First.  So  far  as  the  teacher  has  the  privilege  of 
governing  his  class,  he  should  be  guided  by  the  prin- 
ciples of  school  government  in  general  as  herein  set 
forth ;  and,  so  far  as  he  can,  within  his  limited  field 
and  with  his  restricted  powers,  he  should  faithfully 
endeavor  to  carry  them  out.  This  is  essential  to  the 
welfare  of  his  class  as,  for  the  time  being,  the  body 
politic,  and  to  the  maintenance  of  his  authority  as 
ruler  for  the  time  being. 

Secondly.  He  should,  nevertheless,  endeavor,  even 
though  at  the  sacrifice  of  some  personal  convictions, 
to  govern  in  substantial  accordance  with  the  general 
method  established  for  the  whole  school.  This  is 
necessary  that  there  may  be  no  clash  between  de- 


DEPARTMENTAL   SCHOOLS.  279 

partments,  no  failure  on  the  part  of  eacli  department 
to  supplement  and  sustain  the  rest,  and  no  occasion 
for  invidious  comparisons  of  individual  departments 
or  teachers.  The  work  of  providing  such  a  general 
method  and  of  harmonizing  its  specific  application 
by  the  several  teachers,  should  be  one  of  the  first 
and  chief  objects  of  concern  on  the  part  of  the  proper 
principal. 

Thirdly.  Great  pains  should  be  taken  by  the  prin- 
cipal not  to  denude  the  individual  teacher  of  disci- 
plinary power  so  completely  that  he  becomes,  as  is 
too  commonly  the  case,  a  mere  puppet  before  his 
class.  A  supervision  which  destroys  the  independ- 
ence of  a  subordinate,  or  an  absorption  of  power 
which  reduces  him  to  a  mere  cipher,  is  narrow  in 
policy  and  eventually  destructive  in  practice.  Eeduce 
the  class-teacher  to  the  mere  privilege  or  duty  of  re- 
porting offenses, — a  practice  peculiarly  incident  to 
the  extended  use  of  the  marking  system, — and  you 
impair  the  teacher's  sense  of  personal  responsibility ; 
you  encourage  him  to  neglect  the  duty  of  laboring 
individually  with  offenders,  and  you  offer  a  premium 
upon  the  exercise  among  his  pupils,  of  a  thorough 
and  contemptuous  disregard  for  his  position  .and 
authority. 

Hence,  so  far  as  may  be  practicable,  he  should  be 
empowered  to  investigate,  decide,  and  discipline 
within  his  own  sphere,  subject  only  to  the  general 
restriction  suggested  under  the  second  head.  If, 
further,  it  may  be,  for  any  cause,  necessary  to  with- 
hold from  him  the  right  to  inflict  punishment,  let  it 


280  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

be  done  only  with  reference  to  the  severer  penalties 
which,  as  bearing  more  directly  upon  the  delicate 
sensibilities  of  the  public,  may  endanger  the  peace  or 
safety  of  the  school  authorities.  And,  in  inflicting 
those  punishments  at  the  instance  of  the  subordinate, 
let  the  principal,  by  all  means,  do  it  in  the  proper 
field  and  immediate  presence  of  the  subordinate,  and 
substantially  under  his  direction,  so  that,  to  the  eye 
of  the  class,  the  latter  shall  practically  stand  forth  as 
the  authoritative  ruler  in  his  own  department.  In  no 
other  way  is  it  possible  for  the  principal  to  preserve 
the  self-respect  of  the  subordinate  or  hold  him  stead- 
ily to  his  proper  responsibility ;  in  no  other  way  can 
he  hold  the  class  firmly  to  the  exercise  of  a  respectful 
regard  for  the  position  and  authority  of  the  subordi- 
nate, or  a  uniform  obedience  to  the  general  order  of 
the  school. 

Of  those  higher  departmental  schools,  in  which 
there  is  a  properly  organized  faculty  and  no  fixed 
congregation  of  the  pupils,  during  the  school  session, 
in  a  common  study-room,  little  need  be  said.  The 
offenses  here  are  of  course  restricted  to  those  com- 
mitted against  the  proper  order  of  the  recitation 
room,  and  those  committed  outside  against  the  gen- 
eral order  of  the  school. 

Of  these,  the  former  fall  exclusively  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  teacher  or  professor  proper,  and  should, 
in  accordance  with  the  foregoing  rules  for  the  lower 
schools,  be  adjudged  and  disciplined  by  him  alone, 
except  in  case  of  reference  or  appeal  to  the  faculty 
entire.      For  obvious  reasons  elsewhere  suggested, 


DEPARTMENTAL  SCHOOLS.  281 

such  discipline  should  be  always  in  substantial  con- 
formity with  the  general  order  agreed  upon  for  the 
whole  school. 

Those  general  offenses  which  bear  upon  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  school  at  large,  should,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  be  properly  considered  and  adjudged  by 
the  faculty  as  such.  Only  in  this  way  can  organic 
unity  in  oversight,  responsibility,  effort,  and  influence 
be  secured  throughout  the  whole  corps.  This,  how- 
ever, is  by  no  means  to  relieve  the  individual  teacher 
from  his  obligation  to  make  direct  personal  effort  for 
the  correction  of  offenses  of  which  he  is  cognizant ; 
nor  is  it  to  detract  from  the  sovereign  prerogative  of 
the  principal  to  have  a  voice  and  power  over  and 
above  the  will  of  the  faculty,  when  in  the  exercise  of 
a  superior  sagacity,  it  may  seem  necessary  to  trans- 
cend that  will.  Generally,  however,  when  there  is  in 
the  superior  officer,  the  proper  executive  capacity, 
such  a  necessity  will  seldom  occur.  The  exercise  of 
what  should  be,  in  a  principal,  a  characteristic  good 
sense  and  tact,  will  usually  succeed  in  commanding 
the  reasonable  acquiescence  and  support  of  all,  with- 
out the  need  of  overruling  any. 


CHAPTEK    XIII. 

SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT — GENERAL  RESUME^  OF  ITS  SPE- 
CIES ;  THEIR  CHARACTERISTICS,  AND  THE  QUALIFICA- 
TIONS REQUISITE  TO  THEIR  ADMINISTRATION. 

Species  classified,  as  those  of  Force,  Authority,  and  Influence — General 
elements,  means,  ideas,  and  ends,  severally  stated— Relative  order  and 
importance  of  the  species  considered  —  Government  of  force,  inferior, 
restricted,  and  insufficient  alone — That  of  authority  higher — Needs  to 
be  supplemented  by  the  others — That  of  influence,  superior — Insuffi- 
cient alone,  in  a  depraved  moral  system — Government  must  combine 
all  three  species — Qualifications,  why  reconsidered,  or  stated  anew — 
Qualifications  for  the  use  of  force — Strength,  promptitude,  and  resolu- 
tion— These  severally  considered — Qualifications  for  the  exercise  of  con- 
trol— Good  bodily  presence — Includes  physical  exterior  and  mien  or 
carriage— Power  of  these — Gross  defects  to  which  they  are  opposed — 
Illustration  of  the  power  of  these  qualifications — Intellectual  qualifi- 
cations— Sound  judgment — Its  importance} — Its  elements,  accurate  per- 
ception of  facts,  ready  apprehension  of  just  method  of  treatment — 
Method  of  culture — Imperturbable  temper — Evils  of  a  lack  of  this — 
Faults  sure  to  be  aggravated  unless  thoroughly  corrected — False  apol- 
ogies for  indulgence  in  hasty  temper — Intelligent  persistency — Not  mere 
blind  stubbornness— Importance  of  rational  persistency—  Qualifica- 
tio?is  for  the  use  of  the  government  of  influence — Genial  nature — Neces- 
sity to  the  existence  of  sympathy  and  love  between  teacher  and  pupil 
— Logical  skill — Restriction  in  the  use  of  reasoning  with  the  pupil— 
Proper  use — Personal  goodness—  Not  a  weak  easiness  or  indulgence — 
But  positive  worthiness,  the  result  of  self-conquest — Base  character 
sure  of  ultimate  detection  and  defeat — Tact — Its  nature — Relation  to 
good  sense — Its  utility — Means  of  development — Persistence — As  dis- 
tinguished from  authoritative  persistence — Power  of  retraction — Diffi- 
culty of  retracting  successfully — Rule*  fur  retraction— Not  every  error 
needs  correction — Even  important  errors,  when  observed,  not  always 
to  be  corrected — Folly  of  petty  apologies  and  constant  retraction — 
Government  must  simply  evince  power  and  willingness  to  correct 


RESUME  OF  SPECIES  OF  GOVERNMENT.      283 

when  best — Retraction  to  be  made  frankly,  but  unostentatiously — Sug- 
gested facts — Difference  of  female  qualifications — Woman's  lack  of  the 
stronger  physical  and  intellectual  qualities — Her  superiority  in  the 
more  delicate  moral  qualifications — Error  of  those  who  demand  mere 
masculine  vigor  in  the  woman  as  teacher — Differences  in  power  and  qual- 
ification among  men — All  have  not,  and  cannot  acquire,  the  same — Ex_ 
elusive  forms  of  government  objectionable — The  best  form  that  the  man 
can  best  apply — Government  summed  up,  not  in  the  measures,  but 
the  spirit  of  the  man. 

We  are  now  prepared  for  our  closing  work,  a  com- 
prehensive resume  of  school  government  considered 
with  reference  to  its  general  species,  their  character- 
istics, and  the  qualifications  requisite  to  their  suc- 
cessful administration. 

From  the  preceding  discussion,  it  has  been  seen 
that  the  government  of  the  school  is  practically  of 
three  general  species  :  1st,  that  of  Force  ;  2d,  that  of 
Authority;  and  3d,  that  of  Love. 

The  general  elements  of  effect  in  these  species  re- 
spectively are,  in  the  first,  mere  physical  capacity,  or 
Strength;  in  the  second,  Poiver,  either  bodily  or 
mental ;  and  in  the  third,  Influence,  both  intellectual 
and  moral. 

The  general  means  employed  in  each  respectively 
are,  in  the  first,  Compulsion ;  in  the  second,  Requisi- 
tions or  Mandates,  either  with  or  without  reasonings 
or  penal  inflictions;  and  in  the  third,  Persuasion, 
either  argumentative  or  pathetic. 

The  general  idea  entertained  of  the  subject,  under 
each  respectively,  is  as  follows :  under  the  govern- 
ment of  force,  he  is  regarded  as  a  mere  unreasoning 
creature  ;  under  that  of  authority,  he  is  held  as  an 
intelligent   subject;    and  under  that  of  love,  he  is 


284  SCHOOL  GOVEKNMENT. 

looked  upon  as  not  only  an  intelligent  subject,  but 
as  capacitated  for  the  exercise  of  a  true  and  loving 
loyalty. 

The  ultimate  supremacy  attained  in  the  successful 
administration  of  the  three  general  species  respect- 
ively, is  of  different  kinds  corresponding.  In  the 
first,  the  supremacy  is  that  of  mere  Mastery  ;  in  the 
second,  it  is  that  of  Sovereign  Control,  or  Lordship  ; 
and  in  the  third,  it  is  that  of  Moral  Supremacy. 

This  analysis  at  once  reveals  the  relative  import- 
ance of  these  species  of  government  in  the  school,  to 
be  precisely  that  of  the  order  in  which  they  have  just 
been  presented,  beginning  with  the  lowest  and  ending 
with  the  highest. 

The  government  of  mere  force,  resulting  only  in 
physical  mastery,  however  just  in  its  place,  or  com- 
plete in  its  success,  stands  necessarily  lowest  in  the 
scale.  It  is  inferior  in  its  governing  idea,  in  the 
means  it  employs,  and  in  the  ends  attained.  Fur- 
thermore, although  necessary  and  useful  within  its 
prescribed  limits,  it  is  insufficient  of  itself;  it  is 
unable  and  unfit  to  stand  alone ;  and  if  made  the 
sole  or  chief  reliance,  must  even  be  pronounced  to 
be  the  necessary  resource  of  mere  incompetence  to 
govern,  and  to  be,  in  its  essential  character,  base  and 
despotic. 

Far  higher  in  the  scale  stands  the  government  of 
authoritative  power,  or  true  control.  It  is  nobler  in 
the  idea  cherished  both  of  itself  and  of  its  subjects, 
more  comprehensive  in  its  capabilities  and  means, 
and  more  effective  and  salutary  in  its  results.     Yet 


RESUME  OF  SPECIES  OF  GOVERNMENT.     285 

even  this  species  can  hardly  be  considered  as,  in 
itself,  sufficient  or  complete.  Without  the  co-opera- 
tion of  the  first,  it  may  sometimes  fail  for  lack  of 
material  power  to  command  universal  obedience. 
Without  the  full  alliance  of  the  last  species,  the  gov- 
ernment of  love,  it  must  often  stop  short  of  evincing 
the  highest  elements  of  excellence,  and  must  fail  to 
attain  the  truest  and  noblest  results.  It  is,  of  itself, 
adequate  to  the  preservation  of  substantial  order  and 
organic  harmony  and  prosperity.  But  it  cannot  reach 
that  perfect  crown  of  all  governmental  success  in  the 
school,  the  thorough  and  benign  transformation  of 
character,  and  the  permanent  alliance  of  its  subjects 
in  the  cause  of  its  own  perpetuation  and  perfection. 

The  last,  the  government  of  influence,  or  true  su- 
premacy, is,  in  its  individual  character,  whether  we 
look  at  its  controlling  idea,  its  specific  appliances  or 
its  ultimate  achievements,  doubtless  the  purest  and 
best.  Still,  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  that,  taken  as  an 
exclusive  mode,  even  this  species  of  government  is 
not  without  its  defects.  In  a  perfect  moral  system,  yet 
unvitiated  by  the  introduction  of  depraved  passions 
and  a  disloyal  will,  it  might,  perhaps,  be  able  to 
stand  and  rule  alone.  But  where  the  opposite  char- 
acteristics are  prevalent ;  where  the  subjects  of  moral 
government  are,  not  only  imperfect  in  apprehension, 
but  depraved  in  nature ;  where  there  are  endless 
counteracting  notions,  desires,  examples,  and  influ- 
ences, it  stands  in  reason,  that  the  case  is  different. 
Here,  it  lacks  the  grand  element  which  is  alone  able 
to  secure  free  scope  and  fair  play  for  the  exercise  of 


280  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

its  own  better  appliances,  and  which  only  can  guar- 
anty it  either  safety  or  success.  Able  it  may  be, 
when  the  way  is  clear,  to  secure  the  desired  trans- 
formation of  character,  and  substantial  order  as  con- 
sequent ;  but  it  is  not  unfailingly  competent  to  make 
that  way  clear  when  once  it  has  been  obstructed.  It 
may  indeed  go  down  upon  the  realm  of  a  corrupted 
nature,  and 

"  Tempt  with  wand'ring  feet 
The  dark,  unbottomed,  infinite  abyss ;" 

but  it  can  give  no  sure  pledge  that  it  will  not  at  the 
last  be  driven, 

"  Bootless  home,  and  weather-beaten  back," 

Generous  then  may  be  the  nature  which  espouses 
its  cause,  and  seeks  to  rely  on  it  alone ;  but  it  is 
neither  well  informed  nor  practically  wise.  Hence, 
we  are  forced  to  accept  the  general  conclusion,  that 
in  the  school,  as  indeed  elsewhere,  the  system  of 
government  chosen  and  administered  must  be  eclectic 
rather  than  partial  or  exclusive  :  it  must  range  freely 
through  all  three  of  the  foregoing  species,  and,  em- 
ploying them  in  their  proper  order  and  proportion, 
must  perfect  itself  in  a  just  alliance  and  harmonious 
co-operation  of  the  whole.  A  just  apprehension  of 
the  validity  and  force  of  this  conclusion  would  go  far 
toward  the  effective  correction  of  the  too  current  ten- 
dency to  assume  the  sufficiency  and  exclusive  lawful- 
ness of  the  various  schemes,  of  natural  reactions, 
moral  suasion,  and  reformatory  discipline, — schemes, 
in  themselves  considered,  not  destitute  of  individual 


SPECIES  I   REQUISITE   QUALIFICATIONS.  287 

excellencies,  but  which,  as  commonly  taught  and 
urged,  are  only  deceptive  and  dangerous. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  notice  the  qualifications 
requisite  to  the  successful  administration  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  school,  as  set  forth  in  this  analysis. 
In  doing  this,  we  shall  follow  the  order  of  the  fore- 
going analysis  as  the  most  convenient,  and  as 
susceptible  of  presenting  each  class  in  the  better 
light  of  its  relations  and  comparative  importance. 
Some  of  these  will  doubtless  occur  to  the  reader,  as 
having  been  suggested  in  the  previous  discussion. 
These,  however,  cannot  be  entirely  excluded  here, 
without  impairing  the  general  classification  and  losing 
the  benefit  of  such  additional  light  as  may  be  thrown 
upon  them.  But  the  notice  taken  of  them  will,  for 
the  reason  just  suggested,  be  comparatively  brief. 

Others  will  be  presented,  not  because  the  attain- 
ment of  them  is  possible  in  the  case  of  every  teacher, 
nor  because  the  effort  toward  such  attainment  is  ob- 
ligatory on  those  naturally  deficient ;  but  because  they 
properly  have  their  place  in  the  complete  scheme  of 
qualifications ;  because  they  are  suggestive  of  direc- 
tions in  which  important  culture  and  improvement 
may  be  sought ;  and  because  the  mention  of  them 
will  evince  the  greater  advantage  and  responsibility 
of  those  who  have  been,  by  a  beneficent  nature, 
thus  nobly  endowed.  Let  the  earnest  teacher,  then, 
be  upon  his  guard  against  being  discouraged  by  the 
early  discovery  of  his  natural  or  constitutional  lack 
of  any  of  these  particular  qualifications ;  and  be 
equally  careful  not  to  form  a  hasty  estimate  of  their 


288  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

value,  upon  the  unfair  basis  of  a  partial  or  ill-digested 
examination  of  the  entire  scheme.  Our  object  is  to 
explore  faithfully  the  whole  field  before  us,  that,  so 
far  as  it  may  be  possible,  everyone  may  be  able  to 
find  something  clearly  adapted  to  his  own  individual 
necessities  or  responsibilities. 

To  proceed,  then,  the  qualifications  requisite  to  the 
successful  administration  of  the  first  species  of  gov- 
ernment, that  of  mere  force,  are  few  and  simple, 
being  primarily,  mere  physical  strength ;  and,  second- 
arily, when  the  former  is  inadequate  alone,  alertness, 
or  promptitude  in  action.  Every  one  knows  how 
potent  an  element  this  last  is  in  a  trial  of  strength, 
in  which  the  parties  are  unequally  matched,  and  how 
often  it  is  itself  sufficient  to  secure  the  victory.  In 
cases  in  which  both  of  these  elements  of  mastery  are 
either  wanting  or  are  inadequate  to  the  task  imposed 
upon  them,  there  is  no  resource  except 

"  The  mind  and  spirit  remains 
Invincible." 

The  higher  strength  must  be  found  in  aroused  and 
determined  resolution.  Every  one  conversant  with 
human  conflict  knows  how  possible  it  is  for  such  res- 
olution to  reduplicate,  for  the  time  being,  even  the 
physical  powers.  Indeed,  here,  as  well  as  in  the 
higher  fields  of  struggle,  it  is  often  true  that  the 
measure  of  the  will  is  the  measure  of  the  ability. 

The  qualifications  favoring  the  happy  administra- 
tion of  the  second  and  higher  species  of  government, 
that  of  control,  or  proper  sovereignty,  are  more  varied 


SPECIES  :   REQUISITE   QUALIFICATIONS.  289 

and  deserving  of  a  fuller  consideration.  They  are, 
first,  a  good  physical  exterior  or  bodily  presence. 
This  includes  several  distinct  elements,  such  as  size, 
just  proportions,  proper  solidity  of  frame,  an  eye 
keen  and  penetrating  or  clear  and  commanding,  and 
a  voice  full,  distinct,  and  naturally  authoritative. 
Milton  recognizes  the  general  principle  when  he  says 
of  Adam : 

"  His  large,  fair  front  and  eye  sublime  declared 
Absolute  rule." 

As  has  been  intimated,  however,  these  qualities  are 
not  always  at  command ;  nor  is  he  to  be  judged  ne- 
cessarily incompetent,  who  may  be  wanting  in  them. 
Still  it  must  be  patent  to  every  observing  mind,  that, 
other  things  being  equal,  he  who  possessing  these, 

looks 

"  Every  inch,  a  king," 

will,  at  once,  command  a  respectful  attention  and  a 
prompt  obedience,  which  will  be  denied  to  a  person 
of  feeble  or  insignificant  appearance,  and  which  the 
latter  must  first  conquer  by  the  force  of  a  subsequent 
development  of  hidden  and  unsuspected  power,  before 
he  can  confidently  and  surely  claim  them. 

Secondly.  A  becoming  or  noble  mien,  or  carriage 
of  one's  self,  is  important,  and,  aside  from  the  general 
reason, — its  bearing  upon  the  government, — because 
it  is  a  direct  symbol  of  the  inward  spirit  which  cer- 
tainly has  some  just  claim  to  a  fitting  outward  repre- 
sentation ;  because  it  is  to  a  good  degree  susceptible 
of  development  in  every  person  of  any  force  of  char- 
acter ;  and  because,  in  some  of  its  elements,  Ameri- 


290  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

cans  are  notoriously  and  culpably  deficient.  This 
quality  embraces  the  several  elements ;  erectness  of 
form ;  self-possessed  steadiness  in  movement  and 
certainty  in  action  ;  unembarrassed  directness  of  look 
and  address ;  and  a  deliberate  and  unfaltering  utter- 
ance. 

The  faults  to  which  these  are  opposed  are  an  un- 
natural and  unhealthy  stoop,  and  careless  or  lounging 
postures, — both  matters  of  the  merest  habit,  and 
simply  inexcusable ;  undue  haste  or  fitful  irregularity 
in  movement,  either  original  or  acquired;  clumsy 
and  imperfect  action  in  doing  things,  not  uncommonly 
the  result  of  conscious  incompetence;  a  lowering, 
downcast,  or  averted  look,  either  the  product  of  con- 
stitutional timidity  or  mere  mauvais  horte;  a  hesitating 
or  bungling  style  of  address,  quite  generally  the  just 
retribution  of  our  common  disloyalty  to  the  study  of 
our  noble  "  mother  tongue ;"  and  a  thick,  feeble,  or 
vulgar  utterance,  sometimes  natural,  but  more  often 
the  base  birth  of  the  abominable  neglect  in  our 
schools,  of  the  noble  art  of  reading.  "  From  such 
withdraw  thyself,"  if  thou  art  either  an  earnest 
teacher  or  indeed  but  half  a  man.  Contentment  with 
them  is  a  vice. 

Of  the  utility  of  this  grand  qualification,  we  urge 
nothing  beyond  its  self-evident  claims,  except  by  way 
of  brief  practical  illustration.  Let,  for  example,  a 
command  be  issued,  and  with  a  cool,  self-possessed 
mien,  and  a  direct  and  confident  look  and  tone,  and 
who  does  not  know  that  it  carries  with  it,  a  clear 
conviction  to  the  mind  addressed,  not  merely  of  the 


species:  requisite  qualifications.  291 

necessity  of  obedience,  but  also  of  its  own  inherent 
rectitude.  "  Confidence,"  says  Tupper,  "  was  bearer 
of  the  palm  because  it  looked  like  conviction  of 
desert."  So  too,  what  skillful  teacher  has  not  wit- 
nessed the  simple  and  effective  power  of  a  sudden 
pause,  profound  silence,  and  a  steady  and  penetrating 
look  fastened  upon  some  thoughtless  and  disturbing 
member  of  the  little  commonwealth?  Looks,  like 
gestures,  are  often  mightier  than  words,  and  their 
right  and  effective  use  might  well  be  more  frequently 
a  subject  of  study  among  our  teachers.  In  practical 
dealing  with  human  nature,  it  is  a  cardinal  maxim  ; 
that  manner  is  more  vital  than  even  matter. 

But  nothing  here  urged  is  to  be  accepted  as  coun- 
tenancing a  mere  studied  pompousness  or  preten- 
tiousness of  manner.  Simple  affectation  or  pretence 
in  the  teacher  is  a  vice  of  no  insignificant  dimensions. 
But  a  properly  cultivated  or  a  naturally  noble  man- 
ner is  quite  another  thing,  and  is  both  legitimate  and 
desirable. 

Passing,  thirdly,  to  the  higher  and  more  exclusively 
intellectual  qualities,  the  first  to  be  noticed  is  sound 
judgment  or,  in  common  phraseology,  good  common 
sense.  This  is  of  the  utmost  importance.  It  is  for 
the  teacher,  (as  indeed  for  every  man  who  has  to  deal 
with  human  affairs,)  the  touchstone  of  practical  char- 
acter and  endowment :  it  is  the  master  attribute. 
No  other  good  qualities  which  he  may  possess,  can 
counterbalance  any  especial  deficiency  in  this  direc- 
tion. The  best  designs  and  the  fairest  plans  may 
be  hopelessly  marred  or  foiled,  by  the  simple  lack, 


292  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  of  good  common  sense. 
With  it,  those  even  intrinsically  defective  may  count 
upon  a  reasonable  success. 

Its  elements  are  few  and  simple,  being,  first,  a 
prompt  and  accurate  perception  of  the  facts  in  the 
case,  and,  secondly,  a  ready  intuitive  apprehension 
of  their  just  relations  to  the  probable  treatment  de- 
manded. They  may  be  summed  up,  in  a  rapid  and 
transparent  survey  of  the  whole  field  of  the  specific 
fact  or  measure  concerned,  irrespective  of  mere  per- 
sonal prepossessions  or  considerations.  It  involves 
really  the  power  of  wholly  discharging  the  observer 
himself,  from  the  view  taken,  and  of  looking  at  things 
in  their  own  nature  and  relations  exclusively.  In  the 
lack  of  this  power,  lies  the  real  secret  of  the  failure 
of  many  persons  to  evince  sound  judgment  or  com 
mon  sense.  They  cannot,  in  their  judgments,  get 
out  of,  away  from,  and  above  themselves.  Hence, 
self-conceited  and  egotistical  minds  must  always  be 
wanting  in  this  quality. 

Good  judgment  or  common  sense  is  usually,  to  a 
great  extent,  a  native  endowment.  Its  attainment, 
when  it  is  not  native,  is  a  matter  of  some  difficulty ; 
in  some  cases,  it  is  seemingly  impossible.  Yet 
teachers  should  guard  against  too  readily  accepting 
this  last  as  the  fact  in  their  own  case.  For  the 
quality  may  be,  to  an  important  degree,  either  ac- 
quired or  cultivated. 

The  proper  means  to  be  employed  in  that  direction 
are  simple  and  within  reach.  They  are  first,  a  well- 
balanced  culture  of  the  intellect  generally ;  secondly, 


species:  requisite  qualifications.  293 

the  habit  of  hearty  association  with  others ;  thirdly, 
the  constant  practice  of  close  observation  both  of 
men  and  things ;  and  lastly,  the  thoughtful  and  con- 
tinued study  of  one's  own  experience.  The  last  is, 
of  itself,  in  many  cases  sufficient.  Indeed  the  uni- 
versal value  attached  to  experience  is  really  due  to 
the  fact  that  it  produces,  not  merely  enlarged  knowl- 
edge, but  enlarged  common  sense.  And  these  means, 
so  simple  and  accessible,  can  neither  be  too  highly 
esteemed,  nor  too  assiduously  employed.  Teachers 
are,  we  fear,  too  prone,  either  from  original  indispo- 
sition to  self-culture,  or  from  entire  preoccupation 
with  books,  to  neglect  them.  But  the  error  is  a  fatal 
one.  Sooner  or  later,  the  price  must  be  paid  and  to 
the  uttermost  farthing.  Hence,  (to  vary  the  maxim) ; 
"  caveat  doctor ;"  let  the  teacher  beware. 

Fourthly.  Let  the  teacher  either  possess,  or  fully 
acquire  a  cool  and  imperturbable  temper.  Of  the 
practical  and  pressing  importance  of  this  qualifica- 
tion, little  need  be  said.  Easy  excitability  or  hasty 
violence  are,  of  necessity,  dangerous  elements  in  the 
government  of  the  school.  Their  tendency  to  weaken 
the  teacher's  influence  ;  to  impair  the  accuracy  of  his 
judgment ;  to  complicate  his  administration  of  disci- 
pline ;  to  occasion  positive  injustice ;  and  to  stimu- 
late and  strengthen  both  by  example  and  direct  colli- 
sion, the  fiercer  passions  of  his  pupils,  is  unmistak- 
able. 

Furthermore,  these  faults  cannot  remain  stationary. 
Unless  effectually  subdued,  they  must  grow  in  fre- 
quency of  exhibition  and  in  power.     The  school  will 


294  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

afford  a  thousand  petty  occasions  for  the  aggravation 
of  the  one,  and  the  stimulation  of  the  other  to  un- 
seemly and  destructive  outbreaks.  Correction  is, 
then,  the  only  safety.  It  is  idle  to  plead  that  the 
teacher  is  naturally  hasty,  or  to  rely  upon  that  shal- 
lowest of  all  subterfuges  that  it  will  soon  be  learned 
that  it  "  is  his  way.4'  As  to  the  first,  he  has  no  right 
as  teacher  to  leave  so  public  a  fault  uncorrected ; 
and  for  the  second,  let  him  remember  that  he  rules 
among  those,  who,  in  their  yet  unsophisticated  views 
of  consistency,  are  not  likely  to  feel  the  force  of  the 
apology.  There  is  no  evading  of  this  grand  principle  ; 
he  who  cannot  or  will  not  control  himself,  is  not  fit 
to  control  others. 

Lastly,  under  this  second  species  of  government, 
we  notice  as  a  requisite  qualification,  intelligent  sta- 
bility of  will,  or  persistency  of  purpose.  We  say  dis- 
tinctly, intelligent  persistency ;  for  simple  blind  perti- 
nacity, or  mere  stubbornness  is  itself  an  infirmity,  of 
which  can  come  but  little  good,  and  if  any,  that  only 
by  chance.  The  famous,  and  often  nauseatingly  re- 
iterated maxim  ;  "  perseverance  conquers  all  things ;" 
is  true  only  with  limitations.  Perseverance  may 
possess  this  power,  but  only  when  it  is  rational,  that 
is,  when  it  is  inspired  and  guided  by  proper  knowl- 
edge and  sound  judgment.  An  ass  may  be  conceived 
as  kicking  with  the  characteristic  stubbornness  of  his 
race,  against,  for  example,  the  Hoosic  mountain,  till 
"  the  crack  of  doom  ;"  but  it  does  not  therefore  follow 
that  he  will  eventually,  by  the  mere  virtue  of  his  per- 
severance, either  buffet  back  its  iron  walls,  or  con- 


species:  requisite  qualifications.  295 

quer  for  himself  a  successful  subterranean  passage 
to  its  farther  slope. 

But  of  an  intelligent,  a  rational  persistency,  all 
may  be  promised  that  is  possible.  Hence,  let  the 
teacher  either  have  or  acquire  this  important  char- 
acteristic. He  will  have  large  and  constant  occasion 
for  its  exercise,  as  has  elsewhere  been  shown.  If  he 
is  naturally  deficient,  he  may  do  more  to  correct  the 
evil  than  many  suppose.  It  is  quite  possible  for  him, 
by  the  simple  practice  of  carefully  considering  before- 
hand the  work  he  proposes  to  undertake,  by  repeat- 
edly and  firmly  bringing  himself  back  from  any  ir- 
resolute lapsing  therefrom,  and  by  renewedly  girding 
himself  up  to  the  unflinching  endeavor, — it  is  quite 
possible  through  the  use  of  those  means,  to  almost 
recreate  the  will.  And  a  firm  will  is  a  power  in  the 
school. 

Of  the  qualifications  calculated  to  insure  success 
in  the  administration  of  the  third,  and  last  species  of 
government  in  the  school,  that  of  influence,  or  moral 
supremacy,  the  first  in  order  is  a  genial  nature. 

Influence  can  only  be  secured  and  exerted  where 
there  is  a  certain  amount  of  mutual  attraction ;  and 
attraction  involves  mutual  modifications,  different, 
perhaps,  in  degree,  but  yet  similar  in  kind.  To  ob- 
tain this  power  over  the  pupil,  the  teacher  must  be 
able  to  arouse  and  enlist  in  his  own  behalf  the  more 
genial  side  of  the  pupil's  nature.  The  only  direct 
means  of  effecting  this  is  to  disclose  and  apply  the 
genial  elements  of  his  own  nature.  Certainly,  if  he 
be  of  a  cold  or  distant  temper ;  if  he  stands  aloof 


296  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

from  the  most  susceptible  and  sunny  of  all  natures, — 
that  of  the  child ;  or  if  he  approaches  it,  but  with  no 
near  and  sympathizing  contact,  with  no  warm  and 
radiant  sunshine  from  his  own  heart,  he  cannot  ex- 
pect to  bring  the  child  out  from  his  isolation,  distance, 
timidity,  or  antagonism,  into  the  realm  and  atmos- 
phere of  influence  and  regard.  Unrelenting  rigidity 
and  frost  have  no  business  to  look  for  the  evoking  of 
a  bland  and  blooming  spring. 

The  importance,  then,  of  the  teacher's  careful  cul- 
tivation of  a  pleasant  and  kindly  address,  if  he  has 
it  not  by  nature ;  of  his  unbending  himself  at  the 
proper  times,  from  his  sterner  moods  and  duties,  to 
seek  a  proper  companionship  with  his  pupils,  and  of 
his  careful  exhibition  of  a  just  but  lively  sympathy 
with  them  in  their  little  joys  and  sorrows,  becomes 
again  not  less  apparent  than  it  has  been  already  else- 
where seen  to  be. 

Secondly.  Under  this  general  head,  logical  ability 
or  skill  must  be  included  as  a  qualification  of  no 
slight  value.  We  embrace  in  this,  not  only  a  capacity 
to  discover  consistent  reasons  for  things  required,  but 
also  proper  skill  in  presenting  them  to  the  mind  to 
be  influenced.  In  the  exercise  of  authority  proper, 
the  teacher  has  need,  for  his  own  sake  as  legislator 
and  ruler,  to  be  a  clear  and  self-consistent  thinker. 
But,  as  has  elsewhere  been  hinted,  his  logical  con- 
clusions, are  not,  under  that  species  of  government, 
except  to  a  very  limited  and  guarded  extent,  to  be 
applied  directly  to  the  understanding  of  the  subject. 
Requirements  and  decisions  are,  by  the  very  nature 


species:  requisite  qualifications.  297 

of  authority,  to  be  generally  unargued.  But,  under 
the  rule  of  influence,  it  is  often  quite  otherwise. 
Whenever  the  pupil  is  in  a  proper  frame  of  mind ;  is 
somewhat  effectively  drawn  to  the  teacher  by  an  in- 
cipient or  substantial  regard ;  and  is  already  meas- 
urably prepared  to  yield  obedience  for  its  own  sake, 
the  way  is  open  for  the  generous  unfolding  to  him  of 
the  reasons  which  reveal  the  justice  or  benevolence 
of  the  claims  laid  upon  him,  and  the  dignity  and 
beauty,  not  merely  of  obedience,  but  of  hearty  co- 
operation. And  when  tins  can  be  done,  it  is  an  ele- 
ment of  the  purest  power. 

Here,  then,  the  teacher  who  possesses  this  logical 
ability  or  skill  will  have  a  most  important  advantage 
over  those  not  thus  endowed  or  qualified.  And  it  is 
in  this  direction,  that  that  system  of  professional 
training  which,  despising  a  mere  martinet  drill  in 
formal  rules  and  methods,  seeks  to  develop  in  the 
teacher  the  power  of  acute,  vigorous  and  independ- 
ent thought,  at  once  reveals  its  just  superiority.  Let 
no  teacher  in  process  of  professional  training  be  con- 
tent with  any  other.  To  do  so  is  simply  slavish  and 
suicidal.  Mastery  of  form,  avails  him,  only  when  the 
forms  apply.  Power  to  think  makes  him  master  of 
the  entire  position,  at  the  very  time  of  his  need,  and 
precisely  as  he  needs  it. 

A  third  qualification  for  the  attainment  and  exercise 
of  influence  is  personal  goodness ;  not  a  mere  incon- 
siderate or  weak  goodishness,  but  that  clear,  strong, 
positive,  rational  worthiness  which  is  more  especially 
the  product  of  pure  self-conquest.      He  is,  for  tho 


298  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

use  of  this  moral  influence,  the  most  truly  and 
effectively  pure,  and  good  who,  whatever  may 
have  been  his  original  defects  of  notion  or  char- 
acter, has  hunted  the  on  out  and  dethroned  them  ;  and 
who  has,  for  the  sake  of  his  own  virtue,  installed  in 
their  stead,  traits  and  principles  both  admirable  and 
sure-founded.  Here,  it  is  quite  possible  for  the  last 
to  become  signally  the  first.  Constitutional  amia- 
bility is,  of  course,  lovely ;  but  acquired  worthiness 
is  the  most  mighty,  and  the  most  to  be  revered. 

But,  whether  it  be  constitutional  or  acquired,  the 
worthiness  must  be.  Base  character  may  by  self- 
concealment  and  artifice,  attain  and  wield  a  potent 
influence.  But  that  influence  is  uncertain.  There  is 
always  lying  under  it  the  dangerous  powder-heap,  to 
which  some  unexpected  revelation  of  the  hidden  de- 
formity may  apply  the  igniting  spark  and  fatally  ex- 
plode the  whole  of  the  seemingly  fair  fabric.  To 
command  a  true  and  abiding  influence,  there  must  be 
that  near  approach  of  character  to  character ;  that 
direct  contact  of  thought,  feeling,  and  sympathy, 
which  renders  no  one  permanently  safe  and  sure,  who 
cannot,  in  the  full  assurance  of  conscious  rectitude 
say,  and  with  a  better  principle  and  purpose  than 
did  the  subtle  Iago  : 

"  I  will  wear  my  heart  upon  my  sleeve 
For  daws  to  peck  at." 

In  the  fourth  place,  and  pre-eminently,  the  teacher 
must  possess  tact.  This  quality,  so  often  incompre- 
hensible to  those  who  are  destitute  of  it,  is  really  no 


SrECIES:   REQUISITE   QUALIFICATIONS.  299 

mystery.  Tact  is  simply  good  sense  skilfully  opera- 
tive. Between  the  two,  the  difference  is  that  good 
sense  is  internal;  tact  external:  good  sense  is  re- 
flective ;  tact  applicative  :  good  sense  is  the  subject 
matter ;  tact  is  its  just  delivery.  Indeed,  the  two  are 
but  necessary  parts  of  a  perfect  practical  duality  of 
powers.  Good  sense  and  tact  are  the  two  contiguous 
plates  in  the  one  electrical  combination, — the  one  on 
the  negative,  the  other  on  the  positive  side  of  the 
circuit,  but  both  equally  necessary  to  the  evolution 
of  the  required  force.  Hence,  tact  is  indispensable 
to  the  attainment  and  exercise  of  true  and  effective 
influence.  Tact  is  the  golden  groove  along  which  you 
glide  unperceived  to  the  very  gate  of  the  human 
heart :  tact  is  the  cunning  sap  by  which  you  press 
your  way  beneath  its  stubborn  outworks  to  the  inner 
citadel :  tact  is  the  master  key  that  commands  all  its 
complicated  locks,  and  gives  you  entrance  to  its  secret 
vaults  and  hiding  places.  Were  every  other  power 
denied  the  teacher,  tact  might  still  avail  to  win  an 
important  success. 

The  close  relation  just  shown  to  exist  between  good 
sense  and  tact,  will  suggest  the  fact  that  much  the 
same  laws  are  true  of  the  existence  or  the  acquisition 
of  the  latter,  as  prevail  in  the  case  of  the  former. 
The  difficulties  to  be  encountered  in  the  work  of 
acquiring  it,  and  the  means  to  be  employed  in  the 
prosecution  of  that  work,  are  substantially  identical 
with  those  already  noticed  under  the  head  of  good 
sense.     They  need  not  then  be  repeated. 

Much  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  last  quality  to 


300  SCHOOL    GOVERNMENT. 

be  considered  under  this  head;  namely,  persistence. 
Essential  to  the  highest  success  in  the  administration 
of  the  preceding  forms  of  government,  it  certainly 
can  be  none  the  less  so  here.  Indeed,  the  attainment 
of  important  ends  through  the  use  of  purely  moral 
means,  or  through  influence  and  persuasion,  is  gen- 
erally a  more  circuitous,  tardy,  and  complicated  op- 
eration, than  could  be  the  attainment  of  the  same 
results  through  the  use  of  mere  authority.  Its  path, 
like 

"  That,  on  which  blessing  comes  and  goes,  doth  follow 
The  river's  course,  the  valley's  playful  windings, 
Curves  round  the  corn-field  and  the  hill  of  vines, 
Honoring  the  holy  bounds  of  property  ; 
And  thus  secure,  though  late,  leads  to  its  end." 

But  this  very  circuitousness,  this  very  regard  for 
the  rights  of  human  feeling  and  imperfection,  and 
this  pure  reliance  upon  peaceful,  but  indirect  and 
slow-paced  measures,  renders  the  demand  for  patient 
persistence  the  more  imperative. 

There  is,  however,  this  difference  between  the  per- 
sistency of  this  last  species  of  government,  and  that 
of  the  two  former,  which  it  is  instructive  to  notice 
The  steadiness  of  purpose  involved  in  the  exercise  of 
either  force  or  authority,  is,  like  all  the  attributes  of 
those  two  forms  of  government,  more  positive  and 
outstanding.  It  stands  forth  with  unconcealed  arms 
and  unrolled  banners  of  battle,  on  the  very  edge  of 
the  first  onset.  In  pressing  the  milder  plans  and 
purposes  of  influence,  it  must  bo  none  the  less  pres- 
ent, but  more  quiet  and  undemonstrative      It  lies, 


species:  requisite  qualifications.  301 

rather  in  abeyance,  like  a  concealed  but  ready  and 
powerful  reserve.  Its  presence,  if  at  once  revealed, 
would  only  betray  the  whole  projected  movement  to 
the  hostile  pupil,  and  would  only  tend  to  put  him 
upon  his  guard,  and  stiffen  his  resistance.  Hence,  it 
should  be  rather  unconsciously  felt  than  immediately 
seen.  It  should  rather  shine  out  steadily  in  the  quiet 
progress  of  the  patient  effort,  than  appear 

"  Before  the  cloudy  van, 
On  the  rough  edge  of  battle  ere  it  join." 

One  more  general  qualification,  belonging  equally 
to  all  the  various  species  of  government  enumerated, 
remains  to  be  noticed,  and  we  have  done.  This  is 
the  poiver  of  retraction,  or  the  capacity  to  correct 
and  atone  for  the  errors  which  may  have  occurred  in 
the  teacher's  administration  of  the  government  of 
the  school.  It  is  doubtless  true  in  principle  that 
errors  should  not  be  committed,  especially  those  of  a 
grave  or  far-reaching  character.  But  inasmuch  as 
the  teacher  is  not  infallible,  and  is,  moreover,  hedged 
about  by  difficulties  both  complicated  and  constant, 
"  it  must  needs  be  that  offenses  come  ;"  and,  looking 
at  the  pain  and  peril  incident  upon  the  attempt  to 
retrace  the  false  steps  taken,  we  may  also  add,  "but 
woe  to  that  man  by  whom  the  offense  cometh."  He 
will  sooner  or  later  learn  the  truth  of  the  ancient 
saying : 

"  Facilis  decensus  Averni  ; 
Sed  revocare  gradum,  superasque  evadere  ad  auras, 
Hoe  opus,  hie  labor  est." 


302  SCHOOL  GOVEBNMENT. 

In  case,  then,  the  hard  necessity  of  retraction  seems 
to  be  pressed  upon  the  teacher,  let  him  accept  the 
issue  fairly,  and  observe  the  following  maxims.  First. 
Not  every  error  needs  correction.  Some  may  not 
have  been  observed  by  the  pupils,  and  others  may 
be  altogether  of  minor  importance.  Here,  the  at- 
tempt at  correction  will  only  reveal  errors  before  un- 
suspected, or  will  unfortunately  exaggerate  the  im- 
portance of  those  discovered.  The  evils  thus  induced 
will  more  than  counterbalance  the  good  proposed  in 
the  attempted  retraction.  The  true  course  in  such 
a  case  is  for  the  teacher  to  stand  quietly  still  upon 
his  reserved  rights,  and  leave  the  error  to  the  natural 
correction  of  his  subsequent  administration  of  affairs. 

Secondly.  Even  where  the  errors  may  have  been 
observed,  or  may  possess  some  grave  importance, 
the  teacher  is  not  to  regard  himself  as  scrupulously 
bound  to  make  public  amends  for  every  one.  One 
of  the  most  pitiable  of  weaknesses  in  him  who  gov- 
erns, is  that  of  ostentatiously  engaging  in  the  punc- 
tilious correction  of  his  own  short-comings,  by  per- 
petual declarations  and  petty  apologies.  Nothing 
can  be  more  foreign  to  the  evincing  of  true  govern- 
mental capacity ;  nothing  more  destructive  to  confi- 
dence in  the  government,  and  esteem  for  it.  Its  folly 
may  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  it  is  the  product  of  either 
a  pitiful  timidity  in  ruling,  or  as  pitiful  a  conceit  of 
superior  rectitude.  It  is  as  if  the  teacher  should 
confess  that  he  dare  not  steadily  press  forward  to  the 
attainment  of  the  greater  objects  in  view,  undaunted 
by  temporary  failures ;   or  as  if  he  should  be  con- 


species:  requisite  qualifications.  303 

stantly  crying  out, "  Behold  the  marvel  of  my  unfail- 
ing and  fearless  conscientiousness."  The  whole  is  a 
vice,  only  inferior  to  sheer  vanity  or  obsequiousness. 

What  is  wanted  in  the  teacher  as  governor,  is  not 
the  correction  of  every  noticeable  fault,  but  the  evin- 
cing of  complete  power  and  willingness  to  correct 
them,  when,  in  his  higher  judgment,  that  is  truly  de- 
manded by  the  general  welfare.  Evince  this  power 
and  willingness,  and  the  uncorrected  errors  will  not 
only,  not  materially  impair  his  authority  or  influence, 
but  they  will  not  unfrequently,  by  their  very  incor- 
rection,  suggest  to  the  pupil  the  possibility  of  higher 
capacity  and  superior  reasons,  unknown  to  himself, 
but  determining  the  teacher's  course.  The  tendency 
of  this  will  naturally  be  to  strengthen  the  general 
confidence  in,  not  only  his  ability,  but  even  his  rec- 
titude. 

When  correction  is  clearly  just  and  necessary,  let 
the  retraction  be  frankly  and  fearlessly  made,  but 
without  any  needless  comment  or  display,  and  above 
all,  without  personal  reference,  elaborate  regrets,  or 
unmanly  whining.  Let  the  teacher  show  that  he  still 
stands  strong  in  conscious  rectitude,  and  unimpaired 
in  manly  self-respect.  Let  him  remember  that  what 
might  be  due  between  man  and  man,  in  the  correction 
of  faults,  is  not  to  the  same  extent  demanded  between 
government  and  subject.  The  broader  claims,  the 
far  more  difficult  responsibilities,  and  the  higher 
necessities  of  government  as  involving  the  welfare  of 
the  whole,  are,  in  some  part,  an  apology  for  its  inci- 
dental failures.    The  preservation  of  its  authoritative 


304  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

dignity  and  power  are  too  vital  to  the  general  inter- 
ests of  the  whole  commonwealth,  to  be  subjected  to 
the  needless  humiliation  of  minute  confessions  and 
demure  eontritiou.  Let,  then,  enough  appear  in 
formal  retraction  to  shed  a  clear  and  satisfactory 
light  upon  the  subsequent  amendment  in  governing, 
and,  for  the  rest,  let  this  latter  correction  be  the  sole 
reliance.  The  maxim  of  government  in  the  correction 
of  faults  must  be  ;  not  words  without  deeds,  but  deeds 
rather  than  words. 

The  power  to  institute  such  wise  and  successful 
retraction,  it  will  be  now  seen,  is  one  of  rare  com- 
bination and  great  importance.  It  involves  a  happy 
and  effective  blending  of  all  the  more  important  in- 
tellectual and  moral  qualifications  which  have  just 
been  set  forth.  Fortunate  is  he  who  finds  this 
master  combination  instant  in  his  nature,  or  solidly 
built  up  in  his  acquired  endowments. « 

In  two  directions,  the  foregoing  considerations  as 
to  the  qualification  of  the  teacher,  suggest  facts  de- 
manding a  passing  notice.  It  will  doubtless  have 
occurred  to  some,  that  of  the  qualifications  demanded, 
there  are  those  that  are  neither  so  native  to  woman, 
nor  so  easily  to  be  acquired  by  her ;  as,  for  example, 
those  of  physical  strength,  commanding  presence  and 
authoritative  voice,  and  logical  breadth  and  power. 
It  is,  however,  by  no  means  necessary  that  she  should 
either  possess  or  seek  to  acquire  these,  at  least  in 
their  more  masculine  or  manly  phase.  She  possesses, 
to  a  more  eminent  degree  and  excellence  than  man 


species:  requisite  qualifications.  305 

can  boast,  others  that  more  than  counterbalance  any 
loss  accruing  from  want  of  these.    In 

"  Those  graceful  acts, 
Those  thousands  decencies,  that  daily  flow 
From  all  her  words  and  actions," 

she  is  possessed  of  a  power  for  the  successful  ad- 
ministration of  that  highest  species  of  supremacy, — 
the  supremacy  of  loving  influence,  which  not  unfre- 
quently,  in  its  proper  sphere,  puts  to  shame  man's 
more  stern  and  positive  capabilities,  sometimes,  even 
conquers  them  outright.  Indeed,  in  her  sharpness 
of  perception ;  her  instantaneous  certainty  of  intuition, 
sometimes  amounting  to  even  a  prophetic  instinct ; 
her  facile  adaptation ;  her  winning  grace  ;  her  subtle 
tact ;  and  her  pure  and  noble  sympathies,  she  is,  in 
this  field  of  direction  and  control,  without  a  peer. 
Let  her*  then,  cultivate  others  so  far  as  she  may 
without  disloyalty  to  her  sex ;  but  let  her  rely  rather 
upon  these  her  own  pre-eminent  and  altogether  suffi- 
cient endowments. 

In  this  direction  may  be  seen,  at  a  glance,  the 
stupidity  of  those  who  either  possess  or  affect  a  con- 
viction of  the  superiority  in  the  woman  as  teacher, 
of  the  more  masculine  traits  of  strength,  courage,  and 
so-called  energy.  They  either  fail  to  possess,  or  they 
foolishly  ignore  the  knowledge  of  the  highest,  sweetest 
and  most  effective  endowments  of  the  sex.  We  say 
to  such, 

"  There  are  more  things  in  heaven  and  earth, 
Than  are  dreamt  of  in  your  philosophy." 


306  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

* 

Hence,  a  hundred  times  greater  importance  is  to 
be  attached  to  the  quiet,  all  pervading  and  sweetly 
transforming  influence  of  her,  who  in  the  school  room 
moves  on  serenely  from  day  to  day,  in  all  her  pure 
proprieties  and  loving  efforts,  unconsciously  both 
blessed  and  blessing,  than  can  be  attributed  to  the 
sturdy  vigor  and  storming  energy  of  those  who  either 
unthinkingly  or  unblushingly  sacrifice  the  sweeter  and 
more  benign  elements  of  their  better  nature,  upon  the 
altar  of  a  masculine  ambition. 

It  may,  furthermore,  occur  to  some  that,  after  all 
that  may  be  done  by  teachers  in  the  way  of  personal 
and  professional  culture  and  acquirements,  there  will 
still  exist  unavoidable  individual  differences  in  quali- 
fication, which  must  seriously  affect  them  in  their 
administration  of  the  various  species  of  government 
herein  set  forth ;  and  which  may  even  preclude  the 
possibility  of  the  highest  success  in  either  as  an  ex- 
clusive form.  One  lesson  taught  by  this  is  that  of  a 
necessary  eclecticism  in  the  choice  of  means  and 
methods,  which  has  already  been  touched  upon. 

It  remains,  however,  to  suggest  here,  another  im- 
portant and  concluding  principle.  There  is,  doubt- 
less, a  purest  and  best  form  of  government.  But  as 
all  are  not  adapted  to  be  controlled  by  this  theoreti- 
cally superior  form ;  so  are  all  no  more  adapted  to  its 
exercise.  This  superior  scheme  of  government  should, 
beyond  question,  be  so  far  understood  and  aspired  to, 
as  will  secure  its  presence  in  the  thought,  as  an  in- 
spiring and  informing  influence  toward  the  steady 
improvement  of  the  method  nocessarily  chosen.    But 


species:  requisite  qualifications.  307 

it  is  not  imperative,  nay,  it  may  be  simply  a  folly  to 
aspire  to  its  exclusive  use  and  realization.  The 
particular  qualifications  of  some  teachers  may,  not 
only  rentier  this  an  impossibility,  but  may  render  an 
attempt  in  that  direction,  only  a  source  of  constant 
embarrassment  and  failure  in  that  especial  province 
in  which,  though  inferior,  a  signal  success  awaits 
them.  All  attempts,  then,  at  imposing  a  one  best  and 
exclusive  form  of  governing  upon  the  teacher,  are 
simply  absurd  and  tyrannous. 

The  general  law  in  this  direction,  has  been  tersely 
and  truly  expressed  by  Pope  : 

"For  forms  of  government  let  fools  contest, 
Whate'er  is  best  administered  is  best." 

The  substance  of  it  is  this :  some  government  is  better 
than  none,  and  government  is  as  truly  relative  to  the 
capacity  of  the  ruler,  as  to  the  condition  of  the  sub- 
ject. The  wise  teacher,  then,  while  carefully  availing 
himself  of  the  offered  aid  of  all,  will  rely  chiefly  upon 
that  species  of  government  for  which  he  intelligently 
discovers  himself  to  be  the  best  adapted.  "The 
government  of  the  school,"  said  an  able  teacher  to  us 
once,  "  is  summed  up,  not  so  much  in  the  measures, 
as  in  the  spirit  of  the  man.''  But  that  clear  and  com- 
manding spirit  is  possible,  and  can  be  free  and  effect- 
ive, only  in  that  field  where  he  who  rules  is  consciously 
at  home.  David  was  mightier  with  his  sling  and 
stone  than  he  could  have  been,  girt  with  all  the 
panoply  of  Saul,  and  he  had  both  the  good  sense  to 
know  it  and  the  courage  to  avow  it.  Let  the  teachers 
learn  from  his  example. 


308  SCHOOL  GOVERNMENT. 

Nor  let  them  learn  from  it  only  this  one  lesson.  It 
is  instinct  with  even  nobler  truth.  Beyond  his  judi- 
cious preference  for  his  own  well-approved,  though 
unpretending  weapon^  beyond  his  modest,\but  self- 
respectful  fohance  jtoon  his  own  self -dSyfilopeNd  pow- 
ers; beyond  his  prompt,  but  unostentatious  accep- 
tance of  the  duty  and  the  trial  providentially  imposed 
upon  him ;  beyond  that  imperturbable  coolness  and 
calmness  which  stamped  him  every  inch  a  man,  as 
well  as  a  hero ;— beyond  all  this,  let  the  true  teacher 
discover,  and  ponder  well,  that  lesson  of  simple  un- 
wavering faith  in  a  divine  guidance  and  support,  which 
he,  in  his  conflicts  with  ignorance  and  insubordination, 
needs  not  less  than  did  David  in  his  memorable  com- 
bat with  the  giant  of  Gath ;  and  may  he,  in  his  time 
of  need,  both  seek  and  find  that  guidance  and  support, 
and  through  them,  come  off  conqueror  indeed. 


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